The Hand of Friendship
by emmaaalg
Summary: What if Harry Potter had accepted Draco Malfoy's hand of friendship before the sorting in First Year? After being hit by Sectumsempra, Draco finds himself in an alternate universe where he is best friends with Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, and has another chance to prove himself. AU. Dramione.
1. Sectumsempra

**A new story which isn't finished yet but I wanted to post it in order to give me the motivation to write more. It's set during Sixth/Seventh year and is pretty much canon to the books/movies (more-so the books) and centres around Draco Malfoy, who I believe is the best character, but also the most misunderstood character:) I hope you enjoy it to all you who read it:)**

He didn't know what to do.

Only that he had to run.

Draco stumbled back a couple of steps, watching as Harry Potter's head turned from Katie Bell to him. He looked around the hall frantically as Potter's glare deepened, searching for assistance from any of his Slytherin _acquaintances_. They were hardly his friends now since he barely spent any time with them anymore. Pansy had lost interest in him and was now chasing after Blaise Zabini. Zabini, with the help of Nott, was constantly trying to get away from and turn down Pansy's advances which crossed them off his list. As for Crabbe and Goyle, they barely ever spoke but now that they were, all they did was shout insults as Draco because they were seemingly jealous of the task The Dark Lord had placed on his shoulders. He didn't truly understand their envy. If he was in their position he would be overjoyed. Of course, they didn't know what he was currently going through or even why he was going through with it, and they never would. He spotted Daphne Greengrass glancing at him but when he opened his mouth to say something she whipped her head back around, starting up a conversation with Pansy.

Potter was now looking at him in utter loathing and contempt. He had thought various times about telling Dumbledore or Potter what he was supposed to complete this year, hoping that after many apologies they would forgive him and offer his family safety and protection, but he had yet to do so and the look on Potter's face now made him think that even if he did pluck up the courage to talk to him, the boy who lived wouldn't believe a word of what he said.

He peered at Potter's two best friends, Weasley and Granger. Weasley was tucking into his breakfast whilst Granger had her head stuck in yet another book she had most likely read fifty times before. Both were completely oblivious to the way their best friend was glaring at their arch enemy. And for the first time in his life, Draco wished this wasn't the situation. He wanted Granger to look up from her book to see Potter sprinting after him, he wanted her to yell at Potter to stop and he wanted her to fire a stunning spell at the pair of them if he didn't stop. He wanted Weasley to swallow his overloaded mouthful of food and tell Potter that Draco wasn't worth it. Anything would be better than the situation he was in at the minute.

He staggered back a bit as Potter stalked towards him; slowly at first but then picking up speed until he was jogging towards him. Draco's breathing speeded up before he turned on his heel and bolted out of the main doors he had just entered through, ignoring the angry remarks that were spurting from the group of students he had just pushed out of the way. Luckily for him, they returned to their group just as Potter left the hall. He whipped his head around just in time to see Potter escape the, once again agitated, crowd of students and look left then right before spotting him and picking up speed again. Draco did the same. Deciding it would be better to stay as far away from Potter as possible at the moment.

As he rounded a corner he could still sense Potter behind him. He looked around for anything that could help him. The corridor he was in was silent, pretty much everyone being at breakfast, so blasting a hole in the wall, jumping into the room and then sealing the wall back up wouldn't be noticed by a passerby. He was just aiming his wand at a gap between two suits of armour when a thought crossed his mind. He shot a charm at the identical suits before sprinting off, he glanced back and was shocked to see the raven haired boy blast the suits of armour, which had just tried to grab onto his upper arms and force him into a nearby broom cupboard, into the wall next to him. They crashed to the floor with a loud clatter of metal on stone and Draco began to panic. In his shock he fired a _Reducto_ as the bookshelves he had just passed; the books inside toppled slightly before falling to the ground, the shelves swiftly followed, blocking the path through and causing Potter trouble as he slipped on a stray book.

Draco didn't have time to praise himself since he knew that even Potter could accomplish a _Reparo_ charm and soon the bookshelves would be back to their original position.

He sped up the moving staircases, nearly losing his balance as it jerked to change just as he stepped on. He ran up them two at a time and when he reached they had stopped, barged through the first door he laid eyes on. Not even realising what floor he was on until he saw the familiar view of the sixth floor boys' bathroom. Tears were now threatening to pour out of his eyes as he flung himself at one of the sink, gripping the rim under his hands so hard that his knuckles turn white. Then he let it out.

He couldn't hold it in any longer, the suspense, the anger he felt for The Dark Lord, the sorrow he felt for his family–his mother–who would be suffering alongside him if he didn't complete this task. He couldn't bear to look at himself and kept his head bowed; he ripped off his grey uniform jumper and threw it to the side. He gulped and sobbed, not bothering to be worried about whether they were loud or not. He clutched at his hair, tearing it out in large clumps as fat tears ran down his face. He turned the tap on so that it was pushing out the water full blast; the crashing of the water soothed him slightly, making him forget about what he was going through.

That Katie girl had lived and now whenever he saw her he would just feel guilt. He wished none of this had happened and he wished that his father had never gotten involved with The Dark Lord's insane ideas. He wished that he had been different during his first year and had made friends that weren't the sons or daughters of Death Eaters and he wished that this year he had plucked up the courage to talk to Dumbledore about the issue he was going through alone. He wished that he had accepted Snape's offer of assistance at the beginning of the year.

And he wished that when he first came to Hogwarts, Harry Potter had accepted his hand in friendship before the sorting. Everything would be different then and he wouldn't be stuck in this bathroom now, crying his eyes out because he had done something beyond evil.

"I WISH I WAS DEAD," he screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing off the walls of the bathroom. To his surprise, the words were followed by a small shriek.

A ghost flew from the cubicle furthest to his left. She was young and dressed in what looked like Ravenclaw robes. Her glasses were round and her hair was straight and black, she wore it in bunches. Her facial shape and glasses made Draco think she had an uncanny resemblance to Potter. She wailed loudly, her hands covering her tiny ears.

"Must you shriek so much," she wailed and Draco's wet eyes crinkled into a glare, she said that he shrieked a lot? What about her?

"Leave me alone," he managed to spit out, running a hand yet again through his already messy hair. His voice was almost venomous yet the ghost ignored his angered tone and flew closer.

"I was here first," she sulked, sitting down on the sink two away from him and crossing one leg over the other. She ran a hand through her bunches, still wailing. Draco sneered at her.

"But this is the boys' bathroom so get out!" he snapped looking up at her. She gasped at his pale face and wet eyes, still leaking from the residue of his tears. She cocked her head to one side.

"Are you okay?" she asked. Her voice still had a trace of annoyingness but now sounded more sympathetic. He shot her a glare that said _'do I look okay?'_

She reached over and patted him on the shoulder, her hand sometimes slipped through him instead of landing on top which made him shudder. "It's okay, I'm here," she said but Draco continued to ignore her, tears starting to leak again. When he started balling she looked worried and started shushing in his ear, as if she was talking to a baby.

"Shush, shush, don't cry. It will be okay,"

"…No…No it…it…won't…" he let out between sobs, gasping and gulping for air as his crying overtook him.

"Don't… Just tell me what's wrong… I can help you…" crooned the ghost.

"No one can help me…" Draco replied, his body shaking with how much he was crying. He spluttered as the ghost continued to pat his shoulder, still sometimes missing. He carried on. "I can't do it… And Unless I do he'll… He'll kill me…"

Tears streamed down his face before hitting the greying basin with a silent clunk, silent to everyone but him. It was like a drum, the bang of a door opening and…

He lifted his head to look into the cracked mirror, gulping when he saw the reflection of Harry Potter staring at him from across his shoulder. The clunk must have been the door opening but he must have missed it. He spun round, drawing his wand and sending a jinx Potter's way. The other wizard blocked it easily with a swipe of his own wand before rushing behind a nearby cubicle for protection as Draco sent another curse his way. It missed and instead hit the door of the cubicle. The wood blasted into smithereens as the ghost started screaming.

"No! No! Stop fighting! Stop it!" But her words were drowned out as Potter flung a spell at Draco which he dodged easily. The curse bounced of the sink beneath the ghost, making her wail again as she flew off it into the air. A shard of china flew off the wall and skimmed Draco's arm, creating a deep cut from the force. He yelled out in pain and dived underneath a cubicle door, hiding himself from view.

There was silence for a few minutes whilst the two boys hid themselves. Draco, wanting to see what Potter was up to, climbed up onto the toilet seat. He put one knee on the cistern to balance himself before peering over the top of the cubicle. He ducked down seconds after as he saw the bright red flash of a stunning spell heading his way. It crashed into a mirror behind him and the ghost screeched again. He shot out of the cubicle, sending endless Reducto's at the pipes beneath the sinks. Water sprayed and splashed out of them, coating in the floor in a glistening layer of the clear liquid. Potter peered around the side of the cubicle, his eyes widening at the fast flowing water whilst Draco backed into the wall behind him. The ghost above him cried out as the water began to seep out under the bathroom door and into the corridor outside. Draco shot another spell at Potter which he narrowly missed but only by diving into the water below. The curse bounced around the room, smashing various mirrors. Potter flailed on the wet ground, trying to get up but always slipping back down again. His robes were now sopping and his glasses were smudged from where he had landed face down. Draco took his chance and angrily raised his wand, his face contorted, and cried. "Cruci–"

"SECTUMSEMPRA," Potter roared, his wand waving wildly from his spot on the floor.

Before Draco could even think about where he had heard that spell before, or even what it was, sharp pains shot through his abdomen as if a hundred daggers were stabbing him all at once. He cried out in pain and clutched at his face as the same searing pains travelled around the rest of his limbs. He collapsed onto the waterlogged floor with a splash, his wand slipping from between his limp fingers.

"No–" he heard Potter gasp but couldn't say anything. The pains had stopped now but he knew he had lost a lot of blood. His breathing quickened and turned to gasping as he tried to take in oxygen. He heard a splash next to him and turned his shaking head towards the noise, through his blurred vision he could make out the faint outline of Potter knelt beside him, his face stunned and his wand moving over Draco's body, as if trying to put the blood back inside his body.

"MURDER! MURDER IN THE BATHROOM! MURDER!"

Draco could only hear it faintly but he knew it was the ghost wailing again. His eyes were drooping and the edges of his vision kept changing from black to white.

A dull bang echoed in his ringing ears and the next minute Potter was pushed to the side. A bat-like figure took his place, chanting incantations from beside him whilst he continued to cough and splutter, from the looks of his crooked nose and long black hair, it was Snape.

Draco knew it; he knew he was going to die. His gasping for air was growing ever slower and the darkness in his eyes was spreading so that he could only see what was directly above him.

He deserved this, despite his mother's calming words over the summer when The Dark Lord had given him his task. She had told him that the task was wrong and that nobody deserved to die like this. Draco did. He had done so much wrong with his life and nothing was going to make it right. When someone, whether it was him or another Death Eater, carried out the task he was assigned to do; the wizarding world would be in grave danger and Voldemort would surely win.

Snape was still chanting, his voice sounding more and more determined. He could faintly hear Potter's heavy breathing and remembered his wish from earlier.

 _'_ _If only Harry Potter had accepted his hand in friendship before the sorting.'_

He could feel himself being lifted, he felt weak and his knees were knocking. He didn't feel as if he had any life in him at all, in fact, he felt as if he was already dead. That was until he heard Snape talking in his ear.

"You need to get to the hospital wing. You may have scarring but if you take dittany immediately we might even avoid that."

"Professor…"

"Silence Potter," Snape spat as he dragged Draco towards the door, struggling with the weight of a fully grown sixteen year old boy. "Stay here and I will deal with you later," he said in a voice that made the remains of Draco's blood run cold. He knew they were out of the bathroom when he heard the heavy door slam shut again, the dull thud drumming in his ears.

Snape half-carried half-dragged him towards the Hospital Wing yet Draco still couldn't see anything. It was as though as the blood vessels had rushed from his eyes and were now travelling to his heart so that they could continue to keep him alive. Many times he slumped against Snape as his legs gave way and to his surprise, Snape always managed to pick him back up again.

When they finally got to the Hospital Wing, Draco heard Madame Pomfrey squeal in horror at Draco's stance and sopping wet, coated in blood shirt. His matted platinum blonde hair also caked in his own blood.

"Get the dittany! NOW!" Snape urged as he set Draco down on the nearest bed. A clatter of heels told him that Madame Pomfrey had agreed and was now rushing to get the dittany. She returned shortly after and began to talk to Snape about what had happened.

"…But how did he get like this?" she asked for about the fourth time, and for the fourth time, Snape turned her questions down.

"I've told you before and I will tell you again Poppy, you do not need to know."

"But…"

"Enough! I have to go talk to someone now but I will come back shortly to see how he is getting on."

"Okay Severus," the matron whispered, her voice choked as Snape swept from the room, his cloak billowing out behind him.

A sharp stinging feeling flowed through the entire length of his body and a hiss escaped his dry lips.

"Just relax Mr Malfoy, relax and it will be okay," the matron said soothingly as she continued to pour dittany into each of his many wounds.

Snape returned about an hour after Draco had arrived in the Hospital Wing. He spoke in hushed words to Madame Pomfrey before leaving the room once again.

That night Draco lay in his bed, his heart banging against his chest and his heard whirring as he thought about what the Dark Lord would do to him when he found out about this. Everything Draco had done, witnessed or experienced today marked how pathetic he was and The Dark Lord would not be happy to hear that Harry Potter had nearly killed yet another of his followers again. He would probably take it upon himself to torture Draco with every spell he knew in front of his parents and even after that, might result to killing him.

He tossed and turned, wincing every time he crashed down on a bandaged up wound. His heart was pounding and his head was throbbing and every time he winced, he thought about what could have happened if Harry Potter had accepted his hand in friendship before the sorting in first year.

 **Thank you for reading:) Hoping to write more soon and will post the next chapter next week:) Happy reading!**


	2. Two Snakes and a Lion

**Previously**

 _His heart was pounding and his head was throbbing and every time he winced, he thought about what could have happened if Harry Potter had accepted his hand in friendship before the sorting in first year…_

Draco could hear whispering above him, and by the sounds of things the whispers were about him. His head was throbbing slightly but apart from that he felt completely fine, he found this a bit odd since, if he could remember rightly, the last thing that had happened to him was that Potter had attacked him with unknown dark magic; unknown dark magic that had caused an invisible knife to slash through his clothing and flesh, scarring his pale complexion.

The whispers got louder and Draco couldn't help but listen in. There were two voices, a female and male by the sounds of it, they were familiar voices but not something that he could place immediately.

"But what if he doesn't wake up?"

Draco groaned inwardly at the concerned female voice, it sounded exactly like something Pansy would say. Even though he did occasionally enjoy the attention from her, he didn't want her to come rushing back to him just because he got hit by a dark spell whilst he was crying in the bathroom about a task the Dark Lord had forced upon him. Just when he thought that he was getting rid of her and that she was moving onto Blaise, she comes running back the second he gets into a spot of trouble and ends up in the hospital wing.

"Stop worrying, he will wake up. It was only a little fall."

Draco scowled slightly, wanting to open his eyes but sleep still overcoming him; his tired eyes refusing to open and reveal the two people beside his bed. What did they mean by _little fall_? He had been attacked with dark magic that had very nearly killed him if Snape hadn't turned up.

" _Little fall?_ He could've died!"

Despite her annoying concern for him, this female did speak sense. He had nearly died.

"He only fell off a broom Hermione."

Draco felt the blood drain from his head and he began to feel dizzy. There was only one person in the whole school called Hermione and she was not supposed to sound concerned for him. She was a mudblood, a Gryffindor mudblood which made things even worse. She wasn't even supposed to talk to him or even stand anywhere near him, yet according to the voices around him, she was stood directly at the foot of his bed.

He willed his eyes to open and slowly the lids cracked apart. His vision was blurry from where he was still tired and the bright light that erupted from the windows surrounding the room didn't help his eyesight at all.

Finally he briefly made out two figures at the foot of his bed; they seemed to be bickering about something which gave Draco a headache.

"Harry, all I'm saying is that if he hasn't woken up yet, he might never wake up."

Draco nearly fell out of bed from the females words, did she just say Harry? But if that was Harry and he had called his friend Hermione. That must mean?

Oh shit.

He could finally make out what they looked like and nearly fell out of bed at the mass of bushy brown hair that belonged to the female in front of him, she was waving her arms around but that didn't stop him from seeing the flash of gold and red on her Gryffindor tie, her voice was still stern as she lectured the other boy beside her. Draco had to pinch himself slightly to make sure he wasn't dreaming as he spotted the boy's messy black hair and rounded glasses, he had a broom draped over his shoulder which was something that the female was also lecturing him about;

"You shouldn't be waving that thing around, what it you hit someone…?"

"Hermione cut it out for one minute would you? I'm kind of more worried about Draco than about hitting someone in the face,"

"But…"

"Hermione," the boy shook his head to silence her but Draco was more interested, or surprised, about the way the boy had so casually said that he was worried about him.

It was without a doubt that the two pupils in front of him were wonder-boy Harry Potter and his muggleborn friend Hermione Granger, the thing that was bugging him though was why they were there, they were supposed to hate him.

Draco decided the only way he would find out why they were there would be to wake up, he probably didn't even have his eyes open and it was probably all some concussion enhanced dream that made Granger and Potter feel friendship towards him. If he pinched himself now he probably wouldn't even feel it because he was dreaming, not that he would pinch himself because that would ruin his flawless complexion.

He jammed his eyes closed before opening them again. Nope, the two Gryffindor's were still stood in front of him. He repeated it.

Still there.

He was just doing the same thing for about the fifth time when Granger's head spun around and looked right into his wide eyes, her mouth hung open and grabbed Potter's arm, the Gryffindor's stared at Draco in complete and utter shock before Granger launched over to him and threw her arms around him, tackling him down onto the mattress as she hugged him.

Draco didn't know what to do so just sat there, not knowing whether to push her off or hug her back.

 _What are you talking about you idiot? Push her off! She's mudblood Granger!_

Draco blinked a few times as the words ran through his mind before he lifted his arms, with great difficulty since Granger had pushed them down to either side of his body, and gave her a harsh shove on her shoulders. She lost her balance and toppled backwards, Potter latching under the crooks of her armpits before she collapsed completely.

"What are you doing?" Draco growled in outrage, his eyes flashing dangerously. He watched as Potter helped Granger to her original position, the pair of them blinking in apparent confusion. Then Granger reached forward to touch his arm, he flinched and pulled away, confused and surprised by the pairs sudden closeness to him.

Granger gasped slightly when Draco flinched away; then she turned to a gaping Potter.

"Harry, you don't think the fall gave him concussion? Or worse, made him lose his memory all together?"

Draco lay still in shock as Potter leaned forward so that their faces were nearly touching, then he waved a hand in front of Draco's face and spoke in a slow voice.

"Do you know who I am?" he droned and Draco had the sudden urge to throw a hex Potter's way that would make him speak like that permanently, that would be something he could laugh about whenever he heard him speak.

Draco pushed Potter's face away, wiping his hands on his bed sheets once it had been removed from the Gryffindor's face, he did not need Gryffindor germs all over his perfect pureblood skin. He began to wonder if his stupid thought from yesterday 'what would have happened if Potter had accepted his hand in friendship during their first year' was just a spur of the moment because he had been emotional. Seeing how weird Potter and Granger were acting today was not something he would want to be associated with every day for seven years.

Potter and Granger looked at each other with the same shocked look on their faces, then they both turned their faces to Draco how shuffled further back on the bed, afraid of their fixed stares. He ran his eyes up and down their bodies, perhaps Pansy and Blaise had stolen some Polyjuice Potion from Slughorn's supply and were playing a really nasty trick on him, he shook that thought from his head, Pansy and Blaise liked a laugh but they wouldn't even go close enough to the pair of Gryffindors to get some of their DNA to add to the Potion.

That was when Draco noticed the clothes they were bearing, it wasn't something he had thought of looking at before, since Potter was clearing wearing a Quidditch uniform and Granger her school robes. But it wasn't the type of clothes they were wearing, Granger's were exactly the same as her everyday Gryffindor robes, it was the colour of Potter's Quidditch uniform, since when did Gryffindors wear green robes with silver piping? They didn't, that's when.

"Been stealing uniforms off Slytherins for your friend Weasley have you, Potter?" Draco sneered. "In case you didn't realise, us singing _Weasley is our King_ wasn't because we wanted him to join our side, it's because he's bloody rubbish."

Potter scowled, peering down at his green robes. "What are you talking about Draco, these are my Quidditch robes? And why would I take uniforms for that scummy little rodent."

Draco choked on the words that he was about to spurt, he didn't know whether he should be more surprised by the fact that Potter said the Slytherin robes were his or about the fact that he just called Weasley a 'scummy little rodent'? He decided to turn to Granger for support but was equally as shocked to witness the look of distaste on her face proving that she clearly agreed with Potter's statement.

He was just about to say something when Madame Pomfrey glided down the stairs to her office and into the wing, when she saw that Draco was awake she smiled and walked over to the trio.

"Ah Mr Malfoy, you're awake, okay, you can go now."

Draco flung his legs over the side of the bed, ready to leave the crazy pair of Gryffindor's, but was stopped as a hand placed on his shoulder.

"But Madame Pomfrey…"

Draco looked up at whose hand was on his shoulder and pushed it off when he realised it was Granger's.

"Yes Miss Granger?" Madame Pomfrey said impatiently, Draco was beginning to agree with her tone, he just wanted to get away from these madmen.

"I don't think Draco is fit to leave the hospital wing, he…"

"Just leave it Hermione," Potter interrupted. "Thanks for looking after him Madame Pomfrey,"

"Not at all Mr Potter, it was quite a nasty fall he had, now you three run along or you'll be late for dinner,"

Granger and Potter nodded as the older witch returned to her office, Draco stood up and brushed the crinkles from his clothes, which seemed to be the same Slytherin Quidditch uniform Potter was dressed in. He frowned.

"Are you sure you didn't steal the uniform Potter, it's a pretty anti-Gryffindor thing to do?"

"What are you going on about Draco; of course I didn't steal the uniform? And why do you keep calling me Potter?"

"Because that's your name, you should just be happy I call you that since I could think of many other names for you and Granger,"

"And why do you keep calling me Granger?"

"Would you rather I'd call you mudblood?" he drawled, expecting the usual reaction of Granger huffing and turning away, what he saw wasn't what he was used to though.

Granger's face fell and her eyes began to tear, Draco mentally kicked himself, he didn't mean to make her cry.

"What did you just call her?" Potter said, giving Draco and harsh shove backwards into the metal frames of the bed. "What are you playing at mate? First you call us by our last names and then you call Hermione… that _word_."

Draco scoffed. "I was only joking,"

Potter looked as if he was about to explode whilst Granger just sat down on the adjacent bed, breathing heavily as if she was hyperventilating.

"You were only joking were you, about that? You of all people should know that's not something you should joke about! Remember the incident with Montague in third year."

Draco's eyebrows burrowed together, what incident?

"I mean for Merlin's sake Draco, you're supposed to be our best friend?"

Wait what!? What did Potter just say? That the three of them were best friends, no way would that ever happen. They were best friends with Weasley so what happened to him? Weasley and Potter met on the train to Hogwarts so the only way they wouldn't be friends would be if…

Draco's eyes widened as he remembered what exactly happened when he arrived at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry five years ago, he was waiting for McGonagall and asked Potter to be his friend, he only did it because Potter was famous. Fame meant popularity and even though Draco knew he would already have that in the bag with his surname, he still wanted to make sure it would actually happen. But Potter had to go and ruin everything by turning down his hand in friendship and becoming best pals with that giant ape Weasley and then later, brain box Granger. There was no way he would actually be friends with Potter unless… unless he had accepted his hand in friendship all those years ago.

"No way," he muttered to himself, the wish he had made yesterday, the thought about what would have happened if Potter had accepted to be his friend, there was no way it could have become true overnight?

But it all added together, if Potter, _Harry,_ had accepted his friendship then he would most likely be in Slytherin, hence the matching green Quidditch robes. They would be close friends by now, Harry replacing where Blaise had been for the past five years.

But what about Granger? She was still in Gryffindor, that was made obvious by not only her uniform but also her blood status, so why was she friends with two Slytherins? It just didn't make sense.

"Draco, are you going to say something or just stand there like a lemon?"

Stand there like a lemon? What did that mean? It must be some kind of stupid muggle saying?

He shook himself from his daze before turning to the two Gryffindors, well one Gryffindor and one Slytherin. He saw Granger still sobbing on the bed and gulped, he did feel kind of bad now that he thought about all the things that had shot through his mind just then. If he really was their best friend, then Granger's best friend had just called her the worst thing you could ever call a muggleborn. No wonder Potter had been so angry.

"I… I'm sorry… Granger," he choked out, she lifted her head and he saw that her eyes were rimmed with red from her tears.

"I'm sorry, Hermione," he corrected and watched as a smile began to grace her lips. She shook her head, still smiling.

"It's okay; I know you didn't mean it."

 _Wrong._

"I forgive you; it was obviously just a slip of the tongue."

 _Wrong again._

Potter glared. "Yeah alright, just don't do it again."

 _Right you are Potter, I am never going to use that word again._

Potter helped Hermione up as she wiped her eyes clean, Draco watched as Potter's eyes scanned him for a moment before he produced something from his pocket and handed it over to Hermione. It was a handkerchief. Draco wondered if that was usually his job since Potter looked at him before bringing it out.

"Let's just all go back to the common room before dinner, I'm sure the Slytherins won't mind if you come in with us Hermione."

Draco stood stunned at the thought of his fellow Slytherins being okay with mud… _muggleborn…_ Granger being in their common room with them. He followed behind the pair obediently as Potter led Hermione out of the hospital wing as if she was the patient. Draco wondered in his head if a victim was the same as a patient because if it was Hermione was definitely the patient anyway, especially after the way he treated her.

He felt odd as he walked through the corridors flanked by Potter and Granger, when people looked at them he wanted to run and hide so that news didn't spread that he was hanging around with them, then he remembered that the trio had apparently been friends for five years so nobody would care if they saw the unlikely threesome together. When they finally escaped the torture and reached the Slytherin common room entry, the only dirty looks they had received had been from some fifth year Gryffindors, and the looks had been directed at Hermione. Draco began to feel for her slightly, it must be horrible being in a house with people who hated your best friends just because they were Slytherins. Talk about judging people. He thought Gryffindors were supposed to be the kind hearted, non-judging, valiant type who loved everyone except Slytherins.

Potter opened the door to a loud ruckus that reminded Draco that he was at least still in Slytherin and hadn't been put in Gryffindor instead just because he was friends with the famous Harry Potter, he didn't know what he would do if he woke up to find out he was in Gryffindor, being friends with one current and one previous lion was enough.

"Draco you're back!" a familiar voice cried and his face stretched into a huge grin when he same the bronzed skin of Blaise Zabini.

"We were so worried about you," came another female voice and his grin widened, if that was even possible, when he saw Pansy waving from the sofa where she was sat next to Daphne Greengrass, Granger had also joined her which he found really odd. Potter high fived Theodore Nott who produced a butterbeer from his pocket and handed it over.

Blaise flung his arm over Potter's shoulder. "We've decided to skip dinner tonight, stole a load of drinks from a couple of Gryffindor second years who were taking it up to their common room for that goof Weasley's birthday."

"Which one?" Theo chimed in which caused a roar of laughter, even Potter and Granger joined in which was very odd considering in another time they were his best friends.

"Not going to the caveman's party Hermione?"

"No, for some reason I wasn't invited," she said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Oh don't worry Hermione, you can stay and party with us. Way more fun,"

"And don't I know it," she said, responding to Pansy with a glint of amusement in her eyes.

After about fifteen minutes of watching Potter laugh with Theo and Blaise and Granger gossip with Pansy and Daphne, Draco felt extremely weird hanging around with two people they were supposed to hate, he quickly mumbled something to Goyle about feeling really tired before marching up the stairs to his dormitory.

He yanked off his Quidditch kit and pulled on his emerald silk pyjamas before settling into bed, as he looked around the dorm he noticed there was an extra bed that was most likely for Potter, shuffling down further under the covers he could still hear the loud noise that was the gathering in the common room. Usually he would be right on in there, laughing with his mates, probably trying to get Blaise to ask out his latest date, but today that just didn't feel right.

His eyelids drifted down and soon all he could hear was the distant boom as someone started up some music, maybe everything was just some stupid dream he had come up with because the spell Potter had fired at him had made him delirious. Maybe.

 **Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed and favourited this story! It always makes me happy when people enjoy my work:) New chapter up next week, from Hermione's perspective! Thank you and happy reading:) x**


	3. Savage Lions

**A/N: Thank you so much for all the lovely reviews and everyone who has favourited and followed my story so far! This chapter starts off through Hermione's point of view to give you a look into the Gryffindors (definitely bashing!) lives... since Harry is now in Slytherin but Hermione is still in Gryffindor:( Remember to give me feedback on your favourite parts, thank you again... Enjoy Chapter 3 of Another Chance - Savage Lions!**

 **...**

 _Previously_

 _His eyelids drifted down and soon all he could hear was the distant boom as someone started up some music, maybe everything was just some stupid dream he had come up with because the spell Potter had fired at him had made him delirious. Maybe. When Hermione Granger opened her eyes it was only just getting light and all her roommates were still tucked away and fast asleep in their beds, just the way she liked it._

...

You see, Hermione preferred to get up early and get dressed before the girls in her room awoke so she could avoid the constant abuse and torture she received from them each morning just because her two best friends were Slytherins. Surely it didn't matter who her friends were; it should matter who she was, but they didn't seem to like that either.

The worst of the group was the tall girly girl that was Lavender Brown, ever since she started dating Ron Weasley she was the cruellest she had ever been to Hermione, yet the muggleborn witch had no idea why. She thought that after getting the boy she had fancied for two years, Lavender would be over the moon and that her attitude towards Hermione would change and become kinder but no, she still decided that her favourite part of the day was making her roommate's life a misery.

Her best friend Pavarti was no better but it wasn't because she was mean to Hermione, in fact Pavarti had always been the civil one of the pair. No, the reason Pavarti was just as bad was because she sat and watched as Lavender tormented her and didn't do anything about it, which in Hermione's books was just the same as /She and Lavender were also the gossip duo of the school so even if Hermione did tolerate them she would still steer clear of the girls, she did not need her personal life spread around the school like the plague. She, unlike others, preferred the secrets of her personal life to be kept just that, a secret.

Last year an extremely nasty rumour had turned up about her and luckily the Slytherin's had managed to set it straight, but it still reminded her of the horrid things Lavender Brown could come up with.

She quietly flung her covers off and yanked her uniform down from where it was tossed over her canopy, she always put it there so nobody would hear her when as she rummaged through her trunk in order to find her uniform since her trunk was fall to the brim with heavy books and they did not move quietly. She pulled on her uniform as carefully as she could so no sudden noise or movement would wake up an unwanted guest, if Lavender saw her in her underwear or worse she would have a whale of a time telling the whole school that Hermione Granger still wore briefs and not bikini knickers or thongs.

According to Lavender she already broke the feminist rule because her skirt wasn't high than her knee, Hermione had simply replied with a simple 'it's the school's policy,' at which Lavender had just laughed in her face and hitched her baggy skirt up a tad higher. Hermione had silently thought that even if her skirt reached her knee, she had still been asked out by way more people than Lavender, she just turned them all down, or at least Harry and Draco did. She wasn't able to date anyone they thought would hurt her so that practically meant nobody. Even when Theodore Nott, their own roommate and friend, asked her out in third year they refused to let her go to Hogsmeade with him because apparently he was too close to them? She still didn't understand that and she was supposed to be the smartest witch of her age?

Despite her friends strange antics with her dating people she still loved them and she wasn't lying when she said she had a crush on both of them throughout her time at Hogwarts. When she first met Harry on the train he was so nice she immediately liked him, and then when they became friends in first year her crush grew. It wasn't until third year when the two boys began to hit puberty that she went off Harry and started to develop feelings for Draco, they still hadn't completely bypassed now but she knew she wouldn't stand a chance with him. His father simply wouldn't allow it because she was a muggleborn; he didn't even know that Draco was friends with the her since he only invited Pansy, Blaise and Theo over during the holidays. Occasionally, Harry was welcome over as well, in order to escape the cruelty of the Dursley's, however Draco had announced that his father found it strangely awkward to be in the same room as Harry Potter, for some reason or another. If the three of them did meet up it would be in Diagon Alley or at Hermione's house. For the most part, Hermione's family went on holiday during the summer which left Harry to live out his summer at Malfoy Manor, in the presence of Draco's frightening father, or wait to see Draco in Diagon Alley. Unfortunately, because Harry's Aunt and Uncle treated him like a slave and locked him away at night, he couldn't just pick up the floo and go to Diagon Alley. The three of them couldn't wait until they could apparate so that they could just pop into Diagon Alley whenever they felt like it during the holidays.

Hermione pulled her extremely bushy hair into a low lazy ponytail with an overstretched hair band that had been living on her wrist since the beginning of year five, she always used the same one because she knew how it felt, plus, since this year her hair had gotten rather long so if she didn't tie it up, something always seemed to end up tangled in it. The other day she came back to find a load of twigs in it but she wasn't sure whether they landed there at their own accord or whether someone threw them in there when the three of them had been relaxing over by the lake during their free lesson.

Hermione heard a moan from beside her and shot her head around to see Fay Dunbar sitting up and rubbing her eyes tiredly, Hermione let out a sigh of relief, Fay didn't really talk to her much but at least it wasn't Lavender or Pavarti who had woken up, they would have called her cowardly and pathetic for getting up so early.

"Hermione is that you?" Fay groaned.

"Shush," she hissed back, she didn't want Fay's stupidity to get her caught by Lavender. "Yes it's me, what do you want?"

"Why are you up so early?" Fay asked her voice still quite loud even though she was trying to whisper.

Hermione bit her lip, thinking of an answer for Fay's ridiculous question, why her roommates couldn't make her life that little bit easier by leaving her be she'll never know. "I needed to study,"

"It's half past six in the morning,"

"So? I start early," Hermione growled before throwing her muggle novel into her satchel and flinging the bag over her shoulder. She walked out of the dorm leaving a very confused Fay behind her.

Hermione had to admit that she did feel kind of bad for Fay, the girl always tried to be nice to her when the others were cruel but she always turned away her advances of a friendship; it wasn't that she didn't like her, she just didn't want the girl to be tormented as she was and Hermione knew that if Fay became her friend she would become as out casted as she was by the other girls in her dorm.

Finding her favourite seat by the fireplace that had a high back so nobody could see her sat there, Hermione sat down and began to read. She did this every morning which was why she ended up getting through so many books in the school year. Every day she would wake up at half past six, then she would get dressed and come downstairs to read, then at precisely half past seven she would head off to breakfast before anyone else managed to get down to the common room. Obviously it didn't always work and sometimes she ended up being teased by the group of six Gryffindor's who made her life a misery, she always thought that she would be best friends with people in her own house and that they would get up and go down to breakfast together, talking and gossiping about teachers and homework. But things didn't go her way because that perfect morning turned into her hiding until half past seven when she could go and get her breakfast with her friends. Nobody seemed to like her in this house which upset her slightly, she thought that maybe if she was in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff things would be different but even they blanked her sometimes, the only person who didn't was Luna Lovegood but she was borderline crazy in Hermione's opinion, going on about Wratspurts and Crumple-horned thingys, so Hermione didn't really think of her as an acquaintance.

After she had read two long chapters she checked the huge grandfather clock in the corner to see that it was nearly half past, she was just getting back into her book when a loud bang from the staircase shocked her. She peered around the side of the armchair to see six people emerge from the stairs, six people she really didn't want to see this early in the morning. Fay followed behind, seeing Hermione's head immediately and sending her an apologetic look, Hermione glared before slouching down deeper into the chair; she could hear their voices now.

"Can you believe her, she actually gets up early so she doesn't have to see us in the morning?!" That was Lavender's annoying high-pitched squeal. The loud booming chorus of laughs was torture to Hermione's eyes.

"No way, how pathetic,"

"I wonder where she is now,"

"Probably sat in the library studying,"

"No she's not, the library isn't open yet, she might still be in here."

Hermione shuddered as she heard the taunting voice of Ronald Weasley, if anyone was to blame for her friendship with Draco and Harry then he was the one. Even though he bullied her he still had the cheek to ask her out last year to which she turned him down, after that he had started dating Lavender and the pair had become increasingly meaner to her.

"Let's find her then," a shrill voice cried and Hermione gulped when she heard the other Weasley voice of Gryffindor. Ron's sister Ginny was one of the biggest get-arounds ever and also one of the cruellest people in their little group, last year she and Lavender had managed to sneak a hair removal potion into her shampoo which sent her straight into the hospital wing after use because she was bald, the two girls even had the cheek to say that it was an improvement because it meant that she didn't have that nest she called hair lying atop her head anymore.

She tried to think of a way to escape whilst she heard the group wander around looking for her, in the end she decided it would be easier to just make a run for it so throwing her bag over her shoulder she pushed her chair aside and ran as fast as she could out of the portrait hole.

"You must be hungry," the fat lady called after her as she raced down the stairs, hearing the group behind her. It was obvious they would have spotted her, how could they not when she pushed a chair aside to do so. She kept running until she reached the fourth floor where she was sure she had lost them. She decided it was probably around half past seven now and that Harry and Draco would be waiting for her. Stopping to catch her breath she slid down the wall and tucked her knees under her chin, she couldn't wait until she got out of this place and she wouldn't have to see any of the horrid Gryffindor's ever again.

"...And then she said that if I don't hand in my essay by tomorrow I'll get a week's worth of lunchtime detentions… are you even listening to me mate?"

Draco's head shot up as Blaise directed something from his long rant at him. He paused for a moment before deciding that saying yes would probably be the best way to get out of this, he nodded slowly but Blaise's raised brow proved he didn't believe him.

"What was I talking about then?" he asked testily and Draco frowned.

When he had woken up this morning, Draco had thought it had just been a normal day, he forgot all about the fact that he seemed to be in an alternate universe where he was best friends with Hermione Granger and Harry Potter. Well, that was until he woke up with Harry Potter fast asleep in the bed next to him, covered in a Slytherin green quilt, with Slytherin school robes hanging off the end of his bed. He had gotten dressed as quickly as possible and had sprinted out of the dormitory only to crash into Blaise who seemed slightly surprised by Draco's freaked out demeanour, he offered to accompany him down to breakfast which at first Draco thought was a great idea, that was until he started moaning about some Transfiguration homework Draco had no clue about, now he was bored and slightly worried because if he had no idea about the homework he began to think that McGonagall's punishment for Blaise might end up exactly the same for him.

"Okay Blaise, I wasn't listening, are you happy now?"

Blaise shrugged as the pair of Slytherin's turned a corner and ended up at the grand staircase which opened onto the large oak doors of the Great Hall. Blaise was just entering the hall for his breakfast, Draco following, when the blonde heard a kind of jeering. He spun around to see Hermione Granger struggling down the staircase, a book clutched to her chest and a satchel swinging on her shoulder, her face looked pained though and when Draco looked behind her he could see why.

Six Gryffindor's were following closely behind her, giving her shoves and shouting abuse at her. Draco was most surprised to see the scummy little rodent Weasley at the front of the pack, cheering on and encouraging the bullying.

Draco had never seen Gryffindor's act like this, ganging up on a single person and then bullying them, they didn't even do that to Slytherin's so why were they doing it to Hermione.

"Go on then traitor, hurry up and get your pathetic fat ass to breakfast so we can have some too, you're blocking up the staircase."

Draco turned and glared at Lavender Brown, who was the one who had shrilled out the cruel words. Everyone on the staircase was now looking at the group but none of the six seemed to care. Weasley's annoying little sister, Weaslette, giggled spitefully as she sent a tickling jinx Hermione's way, luckily the Weaslette couldn't do silent spells so Hermione just answered with a simple 'protego' and the tickling jinx bounced off the shield created, landing on an unsuspecting first year who started laughing hysterically.

As Hermione reached the bottom steps Draco thought she might soon be safe but unfortunately, however dumb he was, Weasley emcould/em produce a silent tripping charm and Hermione was sent flying forwards. Draco did the only thing he could do as she tumbled down the final steps, he could either save her or she would end up with a broken nose, or worse.

He rushed forward and caught her around the waist just before she touched the ground; she looked up and hugged him when she saw who it was.

"Thanks Draco, that could've been nasty," she said before pulling away and brushing herself off. She turned to face the Gryffindors.

"Real mature,"

"Ooo, so you're all tough now that your boyfriend's here to protect you."

Draco gulped at Brown's words, surely Potter and Granger would've told him if he was actually dating Granger, however that would explain the hugging and the crying yesterday. No, Potter said you were their best friend, not Granger's boyfriend!

That was true; Potter would have surely said something. Maybe it's just a rumour.

That would be a terrible rumour though; you and Granger just wouldn't work out, even in an alternate universe. Hang on, why am I even thinking about dating Granger? Yuck.

"He is not my boyfriend," Hermione growled through clenched teeth. She was glaring but her cheeks were slightly tinged pink.

"Really, what about when you snogged him last year?"

Wait what? I snogged Granger? No way.

"I just did that to make Weasley keep away from me and look it worked, he also threw in a dumb bimbo girlfriend as well so I suppose everyone wins."

Ding ding ding, point to Granger.

Brown frowned and hooked her arm through Weasley's before dragging him off, her nose high in the air as she stalked past Draco and Hermione, their gang following behind obediently, Ginny actually spat in Hermione's direction but it landed at her feet.

"Sorry," Draco apologised quickly, not quite knowing why he was doing so. Granger's shocked face showed him that she also didn't know why he was apologising.

"What? Why are you saying sorry? It wasn't your fault."

"Draco shrugged and a small smiled graced her lips, Draco thought she had a very nice smile, as smiles go that is, after the incident with Pansy during fourth year her teeth had gotten straighter though he began to wonder if the incident had ever happened because the two girls seemed very close nowadays. Maybe Weaslette had been the one who had sent the teeth engorging charm since she had always been good at spells and Draco had heard she sent an impressive bat-bogey hex during the beginning of this year.

"Are you having breakfast then, or are you just going to stand around out here because I don't know about you but I'm hungry?"

Draco stood in silence for a moment until he faced Granger and realised she was talking to him. He nodded mutely before following her into the Great Hall.

The room was already crowded as many students had snuck in whilst the battle between Hermione and the other Gryffindor's had been commencing. Draco spotted Blaise sat next to Theo; they seemed to be having a heated conversation. He was just about to walk over when a heavy hand clapped him on the shoulder. His head peered around to see the messy black hair and rounded glasses of Harry Potter.

"You were up early mate,"

Draco didn't know what to do so just played along, edging towards Granger slowly so Potter's hand wasn't on his shoulder anymore. Despite him catching Granger earlier, he still didn't like any kind of body contact with either of them.

"Uh yeah, I was really hungry,"

"Well at least you saw Hermione; I thought you might miss her in your hurry."

Draco didn't know what he was talking about; the three of them obviously met up outside the Great Hall every morning, but shook his head.

"Nope, she was here, shall we grab some breakfast before lessons start?"

"Sure," the three of them walked into the Great Hall where Hermione said goodbye to them and walked off to the Gryffindor table. Harry sat down next to Pansy, taking a roll from the basket opposite him as he snuck a look at Hermione. The witch was now sat right at the end of the long table, alone with a book open on the table beside her. She shovelled cereal into her mouth, not tearing her eyes away from the book.

"I don't like her being sat on that table with Weasley and his clan, I tried to talk to McGonagall about her moving to sit with us but she said that it's school rules to sit at your house table during all meals and if she let Hermione move everyone else would want to move so they could sit with their friends from other houses."

"That's stupid," Pansy stated, taking a gulp of pumpkin juice. "We're Hermione's friends and she deserves to sit with us, no one else on that table welcomes her." She angrily tore a piece of bread apart and shoved it in her mouth. Blaise and Theo just stared at her with their mouths agape; shoving food into your mouth was not something a proud pureblood should do. Harry however was looking at her with some kind of newfound respect as he watched her stuff her face with bread.

"Oh you should have seen what Weasley and his gang did to Hermione this morning, if it wasn't for Draco she could've broken various body parts and…" but Blaise cut off at the look on Potter's face, his skin was going red and his fist was whitening from the tight clasp he had on his fork.

"What did they do?" he hissed, his mouth turned upright into a disgusted sneer.

"Well…" Blaise started and suddenly fell into the story of what happened early, Draco didn't even know he had been watching so was surprised by how much he knew. At the end of the story, breakfast was nearly over and Potter looked as if he was going to blow a fuse.

"That little prick, just wait until I get my hands on him." He looked at Draco who blinked before nodding.

"Uh yeah… me too,"

When Dumbledore stood up to tell the school that lessons were to start in fifteen minutes, Harry jumped up from his seat and stalked Weasley and Brown out of the hall. Blaise and Theo followed with amused faces whilst Pansy joined Hermione and led her out into the entrance hall.

When Draco arrived there was already a circle forming and he could hear Potter's voice.

"How dare you use a silent tripping jinx on Hermione when her back was turned, that's just cowardly!"

Draco pushed a few people out of the way to see Weasley pushed up against the wall with Potter's wand at his throat, Potter was shouting abuse in his face whilst Blaise and Theo snickered nearby, he shuffled over to join them and watch the scene.

"You dare do that again and I'll be sending worse than a tripping jinx your way, understand?"

"What are you going to do about it Potter? I'm not scared of you."

"Don't doubt me Weasley,"

"I don't, there's nothing to doubt, you're a coward, what are you going to do? Set your friends Death Eater father's on me?"

Theo drew his wand as Draco did the same, it felt weird defending Potter but everything had been weird since he got here so there was no change there.

"Get out of here Weasley, before I get nasty."

Weasley was just about to reply with a cutting remark when Brown grabbed his arm and pulled him away, mumbling something about how he wasn't worth it.

"Thanks Harry," Hermione said, giving him a brief hug. Draco noticed it wasn't quite a long as the hug she had given him but Potter still seemed happy with the embrace.

"At least we have Charms with the Ravenclaws next and not the Lions," Blaise growled and everyone agreed. Hermione said goodbye to the group and Harry and Pansy offered to walk her to her next class, she declined but thanked them anyway before turning on her heel and marching away. Her head held high as she pushed passed a raging Weasley.

...

 **A/N (2): Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it and if so, make sure to tell others about it, spread the word! Although the support so far has been astonishing for me:) Next chapter is a little bit different as after every three chapters I will throw in an interlude that shows a certain event from the alternate world Draco is in now... next week is Year One Halloween:)**

 **Also next week, all my exams are over forever! No more school for me so I'll be so excited I might even post it earlier;) Thank you so much! Review, favourite, follow! See you next week x**


	4. Interlude 1: Halloween

**A/N: I'VE FINISHED MY EXAMS! NO MORE SCHOOL EVER AGAIN! Anyway, now that I'm finished with school I will have all summer to spend on this fic, which is super exciting for me because I love writing this story! I hope you guys enjoy reading it just as much. This week there is a little change as this chapter is what I'm calling an 'interlude' into the past, every three chapters there will be an 'interlude' which will show a scene from the trios past in this parallel universe. This chapter is Halloween and Hermione, Draco and Harry's first meeting as friends:) I hope you guys enjoy it!**

 **FIRST INTERLUDE: HALLOWEEN**

 **...**

"I love Halloween," Harry cried happily as he and his best friend Draco swept into the Great Hall for lunch, half the day had already been and gone but the best part of Halloween at Hogwarts was the feast that occurred at dinner time, or so the two first years had been told.

"I hate Halloween, it's stupid," Draco grumbled, throwing himself down on the Slytherin bench and taking a handful of crisps grumpily. Harry rolled his eyes at his grumpy friend, the only reason Draco was annoyed was because Harry had gotten the space he wanted on the Quidditch team, two years earlier than Draco had planned to get on the team. However, after Harry's display during their first flying lesson, it was obvious that the young wizard had a talent for the sport and its position of Seeker so Draco didn't mind. If it was anyone but his best friend, then he would be angry.

"You're stupid," Blaise Zabini countered from opposite him and Draco shot him a glare, despite already being here for two months, Draco was still only close friends with Harry, he had even forgotten Crabbe and Goyle slightly because all they had done was follow him around anyway, and he didn't class that as a friendship.

"Shut up," Draco shot back just as a group of first year Gryffindors entered the Great Hall and sat down. One of them was Ron Weasley, an insufferable boy who had met Harry on the train to Hogwarts, they had gotten friendly but then Harry had accepted Draco's friendship and it all went downhill. Since the Weasley's and the Malfoy's didn't exactly get along, Weasley told Harry to choose between him and Draco, Harry apologised to Ron and said he couldn't choose between two people he had only just met which angered Weasley and made him stalk away towards a goofy looking boy with a pet toad, overgrown teeth and a stupid surname which was _Longbottom_?

Of course, Weasley wasn't best buds with the goofball, when he got sorted into Gryffindor he became close friends with an Irish half-blood called Seamus Finnigan and a muggleborn boy called Dean Thomas, the three of them spent their entire lessons causing as much havoc as possible which had landed them a number of detentions in Draco's favourite subject, Potions. The only reason it was his favourite lesson was because the Potions professor was the head of Slytherin house and was extremely biased towards his own house. He docked hundreds of points off other houses everyday but if anyone from Slytherin messed up, they would be docked ten points at the most.

Weasley, Finnigan and Thomas didn't like this one bit so set about to make the Slytherins look as if they were in trouble in front of other professors. It did work for a while, until Draco sneakily shot a tickling jinx Weasley's way which had him writhing and giggling whenever McGonagall tried to get him to talk. Since then, Draco and Harry had been enemies with Weasley, Finnigan and Thomas; vowing that they would never be civil to each other ever again.

"Aw Drakie, don't be such a party pooper."

Draco turned towards the annoying voice that was Pansy Parkinson, she seemed to have some kind of one sided fascination with him which drove him insane 24/7, he edged slightly away from her as she scooched next to him, her eyelashes batting madly and her dark hair hanging limply past her cheeks. Though he was flattered by her constant admiration towards him, she was bothersome and drove him up the wall with her ceaseless clinginess. She had recently made up some kind of ridiculous pet-name for him which was 'Drakie'. It made him sick to his stomach just hearing it spout from her mouth but now Harry had decided it was rather amusing and thought it was even funnier to start using the pet-name.

"Please don't call me Drakie ever again," Draco deadpanned which only made Harry and Blaise snigger whilst Pansy pouted.

"But Draki…"

"Don't even think about it," he snapped just as Theodore Nott came and sat between him and Pansy. Draco nearly hugged him in rejoice but refrained from doing so as to not ruin his reputation.

"Morning all," Theo said, smiling at his fellow house-mates. They all smiled back except for Pansy who looked extremely put-out. Theo continued. "So who's looking forward to the feast later?"

Blaise smacked his forehead and groaned. "Oh please don't start that again, I do not need Draco to moan anymore about how he hates Halloween."

Draco glared "Malfoy's don't moan!"

"Well this one does," he joked; Draco opened his mouth to reply but stopped when he felt Harry's hand on his shoulder.

"Ignore him,"

"Always going to get other people to fight your battles Malfoy?" Blaise teased and even though Draco knew his fellow Slytherin was only saying it to wind him up it did just that and he couldn't bear to sit with them any longer.

"Let's go," Draco said to Harry before standing up and throwing his bag over his shoulder. Harry nodded, understanding why his best friend wanted to leave, and did the same. There were only a few minutes until lunch was over and they had charms anyway.

The two Slytherin boys walked out of the hall just as Dumbledore was announcing that the rest of the school should get ready to head to their next lesson, Harry and Draco picked up the pace so that they didn't get caught up in the stampede of students who would soon flood the halls.

"Blaise is being an idiot Draco; he's only pushing your buttons."

Since being friends with Harry, Draco had picked up on a few muggle phrases, ' _pushing your buttons'_ was one of them.

"I know that Harry, but it still annoys me, he acts like he's so much better than me,"

"Like I said before, just ignore him."

They rounded a corner and spotted the door to the charms classroom in the distance. Unfortunately they weren't the first people there.

Charms; along with Potions, Transfiguration and Flying; were the only lessons that the Slytherin's shared with the Gryffindor's this year. However, the Gryffindor's weren't the quietest of people and news did travel fast around a school this size.

The only other person outside the classroom was a small girl with wild bushy hair and an open book in her lap. She was laughing at something and Draco couldn't help but notice that she was slightly buck-toothed. She looked up from her seat on the floor when she heard the two boys approaching. Harry gave a weak smile since he was polite to everyone, Draco merely sneered as per usual.

The girl in question was Hermione Granger, the bossy know-it-all of Gryffindor who had made her intelligence known on the first day. To be frank, Draco found her irritating that she was so clever but at the same time rather intimidating; he had seen the way she had chastised Weasley about his lack of completed homework and Draco had decided there and then he would not want to be on the wrong side of Hermione Granger, ever.

Despite her bossy personality towards her fellow Gryffindors, the Slytherin's in her year were a very different matter. When she saw Draco and Harry coming her way she slammed her book shut and stuffed it into her bag, struggling to get up with the weight of all the books in her shoulder bag as they drew closer.

She didn't look at them, instead choosing to gaze at her glossy Mary-Janes. Draco raised an eyebrow every time she looked up before returning her gaze quickly to the floor again.

Slowly, more and more students appeared for class. Unfortunately for Draco, Pansy arrived rather quickly and latched onto his arm straight away, refusing to let go until they had to enter the classroom. Blaise turned up shortly after Pansy and apologised for the way he treated Draco, Draco returned his apology with a half smile and a curt nod. Blaise looked rather pleased with the response he had received since he was obviously expecting worse.

Weasley and his followers sent the group of Slytherin's plenty of dirty looks as they marched over to Hermione. By the amount of respect they sent her way, Harry and Draco could only guess that they weren't befriending Hermione because they enjoyed her company or personality, perhaps more along the lines of the fact she was clever.

"Afternoon class, please come in and take your seats," Professor Flitwick said once the door was opened and the class was lined up outside. Draco trundled inside behind Harry and sat down in his usual seat between Theo and Harry, the other Slytherin's seated their selves around him, Pansy taking the seat directly behind, much to his dismay; she and her friend Daphne Greengrass had already started giggled and whispering and the lesson hadn't even started. They were almost as bad as Lavender Brown and her best friend Pavarti Patil.

The Gryffindor's sat in the benches opposite them, for the first week the teachers had tried to get the Slytherin's and Gryffindor's to sit together but they had failed miserably so had decided to stick with their first plan and let the students sit where the wished to. Of course Weasley was next to Hermione and constantly asking her how to do it; Draco put his wand down and listened to the conversation. So far, all Weasley had managed to do was wave his wand around vigorously.

"Stop, stop, stop, you're going to take someone's eye out," Hermione snapped, pushing his wand down and away from her so that he was aiming at Finnigan's head. "Besides, you're saying it wrong. It's _Leviooo-sa,_ not _Levio-saaa._ "

Weasley snorted. "Well you do it then if you're so clever."

Hermione rolled her eyes and simply turned back to her own feather,

"Wingardium Leviosa," she said calmly, moving her wand only slightly. Draco felt transfixed to her feather as it floated gracefully into the air. The ease at which she did it only made Draco more eager to beat her.

Weasley moped around for the rest of the lesson whilst Hermione read her book again. Draco managed to succeed in making his feather fly just after Hermione and Harry minutes later, with a little help from Draco.

At the end of the lesson Professor Flitwick told them that their homework was to keep practising the spell until they could do it without a single thought. There next lesson was a week from then so they had plenty of time.

Walking through the Transfiguration courtyard towards their next class, Care of Magical Creatures, Draco and Harry came across Weasley, Thomas and Finnigan snickering about something.

"…I mean she's a nightmare, _'It's Leviooo-sa, not Levio-saaa',_ no wonder she doesn't have any friends,"

The pair of Slytherin's immediately knew who the three Gryffindor's were laughing about. Thomas butt in after Weasley had finished.

"The other day I asked her to check my Potions homework and she brought it back with all these corrections on it, telling me I had to write it again. Oh yeah, and don't even get me started on those teeth."

"They're terrible, I wouldn't be her friend even if she was the last person on earth," Finnigan said, his hair still singed from when his feather had blown up during Charms.

"I think she heard them," Harry whispered into his ear, pulling him away from the cruel words that were spouting from the Gryffindors' mouths. He pointed towards a mass of bushy hair that was disappearing back into the school, when she turned a corner Draco could see the tears running down her face and felt slightly bad for the muggleborn Gryffindor, Weasley was right, she didn't have any friends, but that was only because none of her fellow Gryffindors tried to communicate with her, all because she was a know-it-all.

...

"This is stupid,"

"You're stupid,"

"Oh don't start that again," Daphne groaned as she sat down next to Blaise, opposite Draco. It was the Halloween feast and Draco still wasn't enamoured with the treats and sweets that were scattered all over the four house tables.

The two Slytherin boys hadn't seen Hermione Granger since they had spotted her run off a few hours before. When she hadn't turned up to their last lesson of the day, which was a big surprise since Hermione Granger was the top student in the year and loved school, Harry had started worrying that she had done something stupid but Draco assured him that he didn't need to worry about some silly girly Gryffindor since she was probably just crying in her dorm room over what Weasley and his gang said about her earlier.

However, Draco's words were proved false when the first year gossip queens, Lavender Brown and Pavarti Patil, entered the hall. They were whispering about something that Draco could only make out when they passed him.

"…And she's been crying in the girls' loos ever since, pathetic if you ask me…"

Draco and Harry looked at each other, not even needing to hear a name to know who the two girls were talking about.

"Are they on about Granger?" Pansy sneered from her seat beside Daphne. "I agree with them, she is being pathetic,"

Draco, Harry and Blaise looked at each other with raised eyebrows at Pansy's 'hypocritical' comment. They snickered whilst the two girls looked on, confused.

"What are you laughing at?" Pansy asked, her nasal voice seeming squeakier than usual. Draco physically winced at the sound.

"Nothing that you'd find funny," Draco said when Harry and Blaise failed to even try and answer the question. They always put him on the spot because they thought that he would be able to warm Pansy. Wrong. Why would he try and do that when he didn't even know or care about the meaning of her very existence? If he tried to _warm_ her then she would think that he was leading her on, and he didn't want that at all.

Pansy sulked, pouting her fat lips so that her face looked even more pug like than usual.

"You know Draco, you should be nicer to your fellow Slytherins," she whined. Draco just rolled his eyes, taking a doughnut and shoving it into his mouth for some kind of excuse to be silent.

The usual chatter that flooded the Great Hall echoed off the walls as hundreds of students discussed this year's Halloween. First years squealed in delight whilst older students merely commented on the positioning of the floating lanterns. It was a cheerful noise until the large oak doors slammed open. A shrill cry bouncing around the room as it did so.

"TROLL, TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS!"

Professor Quirell, the school's Defence against the Dark Arts teacher, stumbled towards the centre of the hall; his face stricken in horror as he stopped to face Professor Dumbledore, who had now stood up and was facing his colleague.

"TROLL IN THE DUNGEON," Quirell paused. "Thought you ought to know," he let out before losing conscious and collapsing into the stone floor.

There was silence for a few seconds until the entire population of the hall broke into screams and shrill cries. Draco could hear Pansy shrieking in his ear as the students pushed their benches aside and shuffled through the thick crowd desperate to get out of the Great Hall.

"SILENCE!"

Everyone turned around to see Professor Dumbledore standing up and gazing at the students in front of him.

"Do not panic. Prefects, please safely return the rest of your house to your common room. Teachers, you will follow me to the dungeons, does everyone understand?"

Harry and Draco followed Maria Dunham, one of Slytherin's Prefects, out of the Great Hall and towards the dungeons. Unfortunately for the Slytherin's the troll seemed to be exactly where their common room was. They were just lagging behind when Harry grabbed Draco's arm, pulling him to a stop. Luckily they were near the back of the pack of Slytherins so no one paid any attention to their sudden halt.

"What?" Draco snapped. Even though he would never admit it, he was quite scared of the troll and actually wanted to return to the common room so that he could be tucked up warm and safe in his four poster bed.

"Hermione,"

"What about her?" Draco urged, confused about his best friend's sudden concern for the bushy haired Gryffindor.

"She doesn't know,"

"About what?"

"The troll," Harry stressed "Lavender and Pavarti said that she was crying in the girls loos. We need to get her!"

Draco grimaced. "I don't want to be caught by some ten foot troll just because you want to play the hero."

"Draco," Harry groaned "What if the troll got her? Would you ever forgive yourself if you let her die?"

"It's not our responsibility; she has her own friends,"

"Really? Because from what we heard earlier, I wouldn't say that many of those Gryffindors are her _real_ friends."

Draco frowned before sighing in defeat. "Okay, but if we die because of you, I will kill you."

Harry grinned, then he checked for any wandering eyes before pulling Draco away from the group and down a corridor that he knew led to the girls' bathroom.

"I think the troll's left the dungeon," Harry muttered as they neared the bathroom. Heavy footsteps could be heard nearby and they were too loud to belong to a human adult.

"You think?" Draco said sarcastically as the next second a huge, gruesome creature lagged past, dragging his wooden club behind him lazily. Draco gulped as the troll groaned.

"He's heading towards the girls bathroom," Harry whispered. "Let's go,"

"You mean we're actually going after that thing?"

"If we're going to save Hermione,"

"You mean, if _you're_ going to save Hermione. I couldn't care less if she died. Better her than me."

"You don't mean that," Harry snapped before creeping forward. Draco's eyebrows burrowed anxiously as he followed his spectacled best friend gingerly. He really did not want to be on the wrong side of that club.

A piercing scream sent a shiver down his spine and for some reason urged his senses to sprint. Harry's seemed to be doing the same as the next minute the pair of Slytherin's were running as fast as they could towards the girls' bathroom, which was where the scream had erupted from. They burst through the door to see a wreckage of broken sinks and toilets. There was another scream but all Draco could see was the gigantic troll that stood in front of him, his groaning mouth slightly open and a dribble of saliva was dripping down his chin. If he could see the troll's face, the troll must be looking at them.

"Watch out," a female voice shrieked and Draco barely had time to register his actions before a large club hurtled his way, he flung his body on the ground as Harry ran around the troll, finding Hermione.

"How are we supposed to defeat it?" Draco called to Harry, he knew trolls were dumb but it would still be a struggle for a first year to take down a fully grown mountain troll.

"Perhaps you could use its club, surely that would knock him out?"

"Oh yeah," Draco said sarcastically, ducking as the troll sent another blow his way. "I'll just kindly ask him if I can have his club."

"They're dumb; perhaps he'll give it to you."

Draco snorted. "They're dumb, not insane. Plus I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to lift it myself,"

"Then levitate it," Hermione voice called out. Draco frowned dodging yet again out of the way. The troll's beady eyes seemed transfixed on him. Pulling out his wand he held it in front of him, pointing it at the club.

"Wingardium Leviosa."

The troll tried another blow at him but sent nothing but air his way, as his club was now floating in midair, right above him head. Draco released the spell just as the troll looked up.

The club fell downwards, landing with a surprisingly heavy thunk a top the troll's thick head. Then he fell, Draco had to take a few big strides back so that the humungous body didn't break him. He stuffed his wand into his pocket as Hermione and Harry appeared.

Once the three of them were together, Hermione reached forward to kiss Draco on the cheek, and then she did the same with Harry.  
"Thank you so much, if it wasn't for you two I'd be dead."

For some reason, Draco felt himself blush at the kind words.

"You're Draco and Harry right?" she asked and the two Slytherin's nodded "I'm Hermione."

"Nice to meet you Hermione," Harry said sweetly and the muggleborn Gryffindor smiled.

"You too," she managed to get out before the door swung open and five adults marched in.

...

 **A/N: Thank you so much for all the feedback! I hope you enjoyed the first 'interlude' and throwback to how Hermione, Harry and Draco's friendship started:) next week Defence Against the Dark Arts class! The first few chapters are just setting the scene and are a little boring, but I promise they will become more exciting very soon!**

 **Thank you so much again, and remember that all your feedback is great.**

 **See you next week:)**


	5. Defence Against The Dark Arts

A/N: Thank you for everyone who favourited, followed and reviewed the last chapter:) I hope everyone enjoyed a flash back on how Hermione, Harry and Draco became friends:) Sorry this chapter is a bit late, but I hope you all enjoy it equally (even if it is a bit of a cheesy filler chapter...) Enjoy!

DEFENCE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS

...

Draco sat in the Slytherin common room staring into space whilst Blaise and Harry argued about their favourite Quidditch for about the tenth time since he had been transported into this strange and confusing alternate universe.

He had to admit, being trapped in a parallel dimension where he was best friends with Harry Potter and Hermione Granger wasn't a bad thing at all. For starters, it meant that Pansy wasn't hanging all over him twenty four seven because he had apparently in the past made it very clear that Hermione was his best friend and he didn't want another girl hanging around all the time, plus, Hermione and Pansy were close friends and it seemed that the two girls did more together than he did with Harry.

Secondly, he didn't get blamed for everything since Hermione was still a favourite with all the Professors and Harry Potter was still the chosen one, despite their house Harry was still Dumbledore's golden boy so the three of them had gotten away with various shenanigans in the past, or so he had heard from his housemates.

Finally, being their best friend for the past few days had showed Draco that the three of them actually had a lot in common, the main thing being their ever growing hatred towards Weasley and his Gryffindor clan. Draco had actually laughed out loud when he heard that Hermione had cursed Ginny Weasley's pin straight hair to become matted, frizzy and make a noise that sounded like squeaking when the redhead had spat to Hermione that her hair was like living rats' tails.

Another thing he had known that he and Harry had always had in common, but not ever wanting to admit it in the other world, was their love for Quidditch. However, one thing was bugging Draco and that was that with Harry in Slytherin, Draco had been booted off the position of seeker and was now a chaser, which was great because he was still on the team but also worrying since their next practise was this Saturday and he had never played in the position of chaser before, always wanting to stick to seeking.

"If you boys are still arguing about that rubbish, you must've already finished your defence against the dark arts essay, am I correct?"

Blaise, Harry and Draco all looked up and over to where Pansy and Hermione were writing some kind of essay. Draco, just having arrived from an alternate universe, had no idea what she was talking about. Blaise and Harry however jumped up quickly, swearing their heads off and rushing over to Hermione. She smiled smugly when they started begging her for help.

"I thought as much," she smirked before peering over to look at Draco. "Do you not need my help Draco?"

Draco sat still, did he or didn't he? He couldn't exactly say that he had no idea what the homework was because that would raise suspicion and he had already been acting weird this past week. In the end he decided it would be best to stay silent.

It didn't work.

He knew the minute the chair scraped back that she was coming over. He entwined his fingers and twiddled his thumbs, racking his brain for an excuse that wouldn't sound as if he had just popped up out of nowhere and had actually been in the lesson.

"Draco?" Hermione asked, to his surprised she sounded more concerned than angry.

"Hmm," he looked up innocently, trying to hide the fact that he still found it extremely weird looking into her face without hatred bubbling inside of him.

"I said, do you not need any help with your homework? I'll help if you want."

Draco froze and looked into her chocolate eyes, she was standing over him, her arms crossed and her left foot tapping impatiently on the floor. Her bushy hair was pulled back into a low ponytail and frizzy tendrils framed her face. One of her eyebrows was raised as she continued to look at him intently.

He didn't know what else to do so let his shoulders shrug slowly, she sighed, rolling her eyes and snatching the parchment from the table beside him, her eyes widened to the size of golf balls when she saw it was blank.

"You haven't even started!" she chastised, her voice turning gradually sterner. Draco gulped, finally having the courage to admit the truth.

"I don't know what we're supposed to be writing about," he shrugged, trying to sound as if he didn't care.

Blaise and Harry began laughing but became silent when Hermione glared at them. Then she turned to Draco again.

"Were you not even listening to Professor Snape? Merlin, and here I was thinking that his lessons were your favourite."

"They are, I was just..."

"You were just being lazy?"

"No I…"

"Save your excuses, do you want help or not?"

Draco looked up at the brunette witch, her face was stern but her eyes were kind. He smiled weakly before nodding and accepting the parchment she was passing to him. She smiled back before taking the seat next to him and grabbing her own essay from the nearby table she and Pansy had been working at. Realising Hermione would be busy for a while, Blaise and Harry returned to their argument.

...

Draco slept deeply for the first time since he had arrived in this strange alternate universe that night, he was no longer stressed about catching up with his missing homework because he knew he had Hermione, he still had Blaise and Pansy and they were so much less annoying than before which was a huge bonus as well. The only thing he was worried about was Quidditch training which was coming up very soon. Harry had offered to give Draco a few pointers and so had a fellow Seventh Year chaser but Draco had refused all the offers, he wanted to go out there by himself and see how good he was at chasing even though he had never done it before. If he had been a Slytherin chaser since second year, which was when he had started according to Harry, he must be pretty talented.

Despite his constant denial to say so, Harry was certainly growing on him and Draco was beginning to question what the reason that he even hated Potter was. Perhaps the only reason that he had ever despised Potter was because of his close relationship with Weasley. The Weasley's and Malfoy's had been sworn enemies for years and it was obvious that in this universe life wasn't any different. For starters, Potter and Weasley seemed to hate each others guts and Hermione was keen on him either.

"…Ah finally, Defence against the Dark Arts with Professor Snape,"

Draco looked up in confusion when he realised whose mouth those words had come out of. Those were words that he had never expected Hermione Granger to say, ever.

Lunch had just finished and it was now the final lesson of the day, Defence against the Dark Arts with Professor Snape and the Gryffindors. Good because of the fact that Hermione was in their class, bad because Weasley and his gang were going to be hanging around.

"I've been waiting for this lesson all week, I hate that it's on Thursday's and then we have a double on Friday, we have to wait a whole week,"

"At least the only other lesson we have with the Gryffindors is Charms, we sit on opposite sides of the room in that," Blaise said absentmindedly, Pansy hit him across the arm hard and he hissed. "Hey, what was that for?"

"Perhaps for your Gryffindor best friend," Pansy hissed back, nodding in the direction of Hermione who was walking ahead of them with Harry.

"Oh yeah, forgot about her," Blaise said, his smile falling slightly. Then he cheekily winked and Pansy rolled her eyes.

"You're unbelievable."

The five of them arrived outside the Potions classroom just as Snape was inviting them in. Draco followed the group inside before stopping in the entrance. He had absolutely no idea where to sit. Students began to fill up the seats and Draco was just about to go look for one when a hand grasped his shoulder.

"Are you okay Mr Malfoy?"

It was Snape, Draco let out a sigh of relief before turning around. "Um… I had a fall at the weekend and my brain isn't working quite the way it should, can you tell me where I sit?" this had been his excuse for everything he had forgotten; if he brought the wrong book to class, forgot his seat, or forgot his homework he would always use the same excuse so that next time he would know what to bring, where to sit and what to do.

Snape nodded. "Of course, between Miss Granger and Mr Potter. And you're right; it was a nasty fall you experienced. Are you sure you're alright for training on Saturday?"

Draco gulped, cursing Harry for failing to mention Quidditch practise that was happening this week. Draco let out a small nod before walking towards the students and sitting down in his seat. The first thing Hermione's did when he had sat down was hand him a quill. He thanked her before pulling out his parchment and Defence against the Dark Arts book.

Snape's bat like figure swooped back to the front of the classroom and using his wand, he began to write on the chalkboard 'Patronus Charm'.

"Right class, today we are learning about the Patronus Charm, not that I'd expect many of you to be able to produce this charm," he sneered, smirking slightly at the confused looking Gryffindors in front of him. "Before I tell you everything, does anyone know anything about the Patronus Charm," his beady eyes scanned the room, as if he was daring someone to answer him. His eyes landed on Weasley.

"Weasley, the Patronus Charm?" he taunted, knowing the Gryffindor knew nothing about the charm.

"Er…um… it's a defensive charm?" Weasley finally let out after a brief pained silence.

"Yes Weasley, the Patronus Charm does offer defence, I should hope so since we are in _Defence_ against the Dark Arts," he said sarcastically, his eyes flashing with amusement. Hermione and the Slytherins snickered from their side of the classroom as Weasley's ears turned beetroot.

Hermione's arm shot up in the air and Snape smiled slightly before giving her a nod of approval.

"The Patronus Charm, or Expecto Patronum, is an immensely complicated, very difficult spell that evokes a partially-tangible positive energy force known as a Patronus or Spirit Guardian. The charm was primarily designed for defence against Dementors and Lethifolds, against which there is no other protection," she recited word perfect from the closed book in front of her.

"Excellent Miss Granger, ten points to Gryffindor," he paused and turned to Weasley. "Five points from Gryffindor for pure stupidity Mr Weasley. You should apologise to Miss Granger for losing her well earned points!"

Weasley sunk lower in his chair as Hermione and Slytherins all turned to face him.

"Sorry," he made out, his ears turning red again.

"I didn't quite hear that Weasley," Snape teased, his face forming into a twisted smile as he watched Weasley suffer.

"I'm sorry Hermione, for losing five points for my stupidity," he was used to this kind of abuse in class and knew how to answer.

"That's better. Anyway, the Patronus Charm, as Miss Granger so rightly said, is a positive energy force that erupts from your wand to defend yourself against Dementors and Lethifolds. It usually takes the form of an animal that means something to you, for example, your favourite animal, a pet or just a animal that represents you as a human; for example Weasley, a pig perhaps?"

One side of the classroom laughed whilst the other glared back, Lavender stroked Ron's arm comfortingly but he pushed her off, turning to glare at Harry, Hermione and Draco.

"Perhaps Potter's will be a snake, since he is the heir of Slytherin,"

The Gryffindors laughed cruelly but Harry just smirked back in their faces. "Actually, I already managed to accomplish the Patronus Charm in my third year. It's a stag."

Weasley opened his mouth to respond but shut it quickly to avoid further humiliation.

Once the class was settled down Snape put them into groups of four and gave them each a box with a boggart inside. The boggart would take the shape of a Dementor and when hit by the Patronus would retreat back into the box. The class would then all line up and show each other their progress.

Draco remembered doing this at the start of his sixth year; the Gryffindors had all been amazing at it because they had learnt it in Dumbledore's Army but the rest of the class hadn't been very skilled in the art. He could do it because his mother and father had taught it to him during the summer, just before his Death Eaters initiation. His mother had stated that even though the Dementors were on Voldemort's side, they wouldn't fail to attack if they saw him alone.

Of course in this universe he watched as the Gryffindors in the room, bar Hermione, struggled to get a wisp out of their wand even when the boxes beside them were closed. He figured that since Harry and Hermione weren't friends with the other Gryffindors they would've never started Dumbledore's Army, resulting in the majority of them failing to perform the charm.

However, the Slytherins, who had been put in groups of four altogether, were already opening up their chests and getting started with the boggarts. Draco turned away from the Gryffindors just in time to see a wonderful stag burst out of Harry's wand and gallop around the room for a while before stopping just in front of the boggart and charging towards it, its antlers forward in attack. The second the two collided the boggart wailed and disappeared back into the trunk and the stag disappeared.

Seconds later a falcon flew over him, causing him to duck in shock and whizz around after the wispy bird, it pecked at Blaise's boggart before disappearing altogether. Blaise sent him a thumbs up at which Draco only nodded, confused at how the Slytherins were already managing a fully formed Patronus when they had only just started. He saw Pavarti Patil shoot a ball of white light, a minor patronus, at her boggart. It flinched but didn't go away, she yelped as it approached her and ran to hide behind Seamus and Dean. Just as the boggart was about to reach her a swirling otter swam through the air, coiling itself around the creature, causing the boggart and itself to vanish. Everyone looked around to see Hermione pointing her wand at the group of Gryffindors.

"If you're scared of a boggart, think how you'll be with the real thing," she said exasperatedly, rolling her eyes. Lavender stalked towards her, her hands on her hips.

"Don't say thank you then," Hermione drawled at Pavarti as she emerged from behind the two boys.

"We didn't need your help so we don't need to say thank you," Lavender spat defensively.

"That's not what it looked like from where I was standing," Hermione mumbled, turning away and walking back towards the Slytherins.

"Hey, I wasn't finished with you,"

"Well I'm finished with you," Hermione retorted

"Don't walk away from me mudblood," Lavender cried and the room went silent.

Draco didn't know what made him do it, maybe it was the tiny part of alternate Draco in his system or maybe it was just the pain he had felt from being called a Death Eater so often, but he threw himself at Lavender, his wand drawn and hatred in his eyes. But as she was thrown backwards he noticed that he had been beaten to it.

"Don't call her that!" Pansy seethed through gritted teeth, slapping and scratching as she held Lavender down using her legs.

"Get off me you crazy bitch!" Lavender screamed, pulling at Pansy's hair as the two girls rolled around on the floor. They continued fighting until Snape decided enough was enough and stepped in.

"Miss Parkinson, will you please withdraw yourself from Miss Brown," he said in a monotone. Pansy glared and shot Lavender a final look of loathing before letting go of her and standing up, brushing the creases from her uniform as she took her place next to Hermione.

"Ten points from Slytherin Miss Parkinson, for assaulting another pupil, fifteen points from Gryffindor Miss Brown for the same,"

"That's not fair! Parkinson started it!" Ron shouted out, pushing himself to the front of the Gryffindor crowd and glaring at Snape.

"Technically Miss Brown started it by calling Miss Granger 'mudblood'," Snape said dangerously, his eyes glaring down at the redhead. His greasy hair hung past his cheeks and the ends touched Ron's face, he stepped back in disgust.

"All three of you will receive detention with me tonight at eight thirty sharp, class dismissed," he droned before turning away from the students. The twenty students left the room in groups. Draco, Harry and Hermione were the last to leave, directly behind Blaise and Pansy.

"I am sick and tired of them calling you that word Hermione, they hang out with muggle-borns as well, they're just being hypocritical!"

"It's disgusting," Draco added, feeling as if he had to make a contribution. Hermione sent him a weak smile.

"Exactly, and they just walk around the school as if they are Merlin's gift to Hogwarts and it just…"

"Harry, just forget it okay, we've got a free period now, let's just go down to the lake since the weather's lovely," Hermione input, linking her arm through his. He smiled down at her before nodding.

"Yeah I'm sorry, you coming Draco?"

"Sure," he nodded, shifting his bag on his shoulder nervously. He had no idea what they did at the lake.

"Blaise, Pansy, you wanna come to the lake with us?"

They turned around and shot a smile at them. "Sure, I'll get Daphne and Theo to come as well!" Pansy said excitedly before her face fell. "We'll need a break after that outbreak in Snape's lesson, are you sure you're okay Hermione?"

Hermione gave her friend a brief hug. "I'm fine Pansy, but thank you,"

"Yeah, I'm just annoyed that I have to go to detention with Dracula and his wife!" Pansy sulked. Hermione snorted.

"I'm sure Snape will take pity on you and leave you to do whatever he's having you do by yourself."

Pansy grimaced. "I hope so, or maybe he'll take so much pity on me he'll let me go without doing detention."

Harry laughed. "As much as I'd love to agree with that, you did just pummel a girl on his classroom floor."

Draco let out a tiny smile as the group made their way towards the lake.

...

A/N 2: So just another Gryffindor v Slytherin chapter (minus Hermione of course - more like Gryffindor v Slytherin and Hermione) Next chapter is Draco's first Quidditch training session... and he isn't seeker like he's used to...

Thank you and review:)

Emma


	6. Of Quaffles and Brooms

**A/N: Thank you for all the support again:) Just another little filler chapter about Draco settling into the new universe, before the big guns come out and they're hunting horcruxes and whatnot!;)**

 **P.S. I have the changed the title of this fic numerous times, but have decided to settle on The Hand of Friendship - it was my original title when I first started writing this a couple of years back and I have decided to finally stick with it:)**

 **OF QUAFFLES AND BROOMS**

 **...**

Draco continued to stare at the ball in his hands as if it was going to bite him. Moving it around in his hands felt weird, it was too big and wingless, the groves made it difficult to hold and it was hollow.

Draco had rarely ever held a Quaffle; he was a seeker by blood and by skill, it was just something he was good at. He was quick and stealthy; exactly the right build for a seeker. Chasers were quick as well, but they also had to perform tremendous tricks in order to get the Quaffle to others. He couldn't do that, he didn't have the training.

He could faintly make out someone calling his name but he ignored them, instead studying the burgundy exterior of the Quaffle that he would soon be playing with.

"Draco, get on your broom and start passing!"

Draco's head shot up to see Harry floating above him, balancing on his broom with one hand, using the other to point over at the other chasers who were waiting for him to start passing.

"Sure mate," Draco replied, throwing his leg over his broom and flying off towards his fellow two chasers, Roberta Rodriguez and Riley Higson. Harry nodded and sent him a small reassuring smile before turning to direct Blaise on how to defend the goalposts easily.

"Are you feeling okay Draco?" Rodriguez asked, noticing her teammate's earlier hesitation. Draco looked up at the female player and nodded. It was strange having a female on the Slytherin team, under Marcus Flint's supervision he had only let males tryout, stating women were a hinderance. He had been a sexist pig in Draco's opinion. Women could play Quidditch just as well as men, look at the Holyhead Harpies, they still ran in the main league despite being an all female team.

Higson threw him the Quaffle which he surprisingly caught effortlessly. He twirled it around suspiciously, curious about how he had managed to handle the unfamiliar ball with ease. Rodriguez pulled him out of his puzzlement.

"Oi Draco, if you don't start passing again I'm calling Harry over to sort you out."

The thought of Potter 'sorting him out' was amusing to Draco but he thought better of it. Harry was the Captain of the team and he was supposed to follow his orders. He tossed the ball at Rodriguez, who also caught it easily. She gave him a funny look but he only smiled innocently, his Malfoy charm shining through as she merely rolled her eyes before passing back to Higson.

They continued to pass the Quaffle, alternating who they were sending it to each time. Draco was just managing to pluck up enough courage to try out some of the tricks Higson and Rodriguez were using to seize each others difficult passes when Harry blew his whistle, signalling them all to join him down on the centre of the pitch for a mid practice briefing. Draco landed next to Harry, the Quaffle tucked underneath his arm. Glancing at the stands he noticed Hermione sat halfway up, her nose stuck in a book. She caught his eye and sent him a small wave. He gulped nervously but sent her a quick thumbs up, she chuckled, shaking her head and returning to her book.

"Right team," Harry started, leaning on his broom for support as he peered at the group of seven around him. Draco took in the team around him, so different from his original time at Hogwarts. Crabbe and Goyle had been replaced by two burly fifth years Draco vaguely recognised but didn't know the names of. Then there was of course him and the other two chasers, neither had been on his old Slytherin team, Blaise was the keeper, still a no, and Harry was seeker. Draco smirked smugly as he thought about the Gryffindors, how had they coped without their prized seeker?

"Following on the legacy of the Slytherin Quidditch team, there is no way we are losing this year. And definitely not to the Gryffindors. We haven't lost to them in close to ten years and I don't plan on losing to them now. Understood?" the team nodded in response. Harry smiled triumphantly. "Awesome, so here's what we're going to do. Draco, Roberta, Riley - you're going to be working together to try and get the Quaffle past Blaise; Blaise, you're obviously trying to stop the Quaffle from getting in," he said pointedly.

Blaise saluted. "Right boss."

"Darren, Andrew - I'm going to be sending bludger-like objects your way, your job is to try and hit the chasers. Got it?" the beaters nodded in understanding, readjusting their grips on their batons. Harry blew his whistle and everyone mounted their brooms, soaring to their places. Harry blew his whistle a second time and their practice started.

Harry's practice technique worked for the majority of their lesson. Draco had just scored his fourth hoop against Blaise, who looked ready to throw the Quaffle at his friend's head, when their practise was interrupted by some unwanted guests. Landing beside Harry, Draco glared at the seven figures who were now walking towards them, their burgundy and gold Quidditch robes billowing out behind them. Draco groaned when he noticed that pompous prick, Cormac McLaggen leading the team. Cormac still had the same stuck-up look he carried at the other Hogwarts.

Harry glowered at the approaching Gryffindors. Glancing around, Draco saw Hermione make her way down through the stands towards them. He turned back to his seething Captain.

"Get outta here McLaggen, this is our practice time," Harry growled, holding up the permission slip from Professor Snape. "See, I have it in writing."

McLaggen snorted, his smug expression only growing. "That's funny because I seem to remember McGonagall giving us permission too," he pulled out a similar sheet of parchment to the one Harry was holding. "And since you've already been here for hours, it's our turn now."

But Harry wasn't giving up. "You can't just kick us out of a practice!" he seethed angrily. "If we did that to you you'd blow your top!"

"Weasley especially," Blaise jutted in. "I can just picture his beetroot face right now when we beat you in next month's game,"

"Oh really?" McLaggen didn't look impressed. "In case you hadn't noticed, I'm in charge of this team this year. Things have changed, I'm not as easy to defeat as Angelina was,"

"You sound nervous McLaggen," Rodriguez answered. "Worried you won't be able to continue your legacy as the biggest git in the world,"

McLaggen only glared at her, turning to Draco. "You're awfully quiet Malfoy, usually you can't stop insulting us," he grimaced. Draco simply raised an eyebrow.

"I'm just waiting for the famous Weasley hair to actually catch on fire from all the tension in his thick skull as he tries to figure out what in the world we are discussing," he narrowed his eyes in McLaggen's direction who scowled back. Draco heard Rodriguez and Higson snickering behind him as Weasley's face really did turn beetroot.

"Well I'm not moving," Harry stated, staring down the Gryffindor Quidditch team. They glared back as Ginny stepped forward.

"Well neither are we Potter, so you better get used to it,"

"Just practice tomorrow," Hermione finally spoke, the exasperation on her face was evident, she had no time for petty Quidditch arguments.

"Hufflepuff have the pitch booked for tomorrow, obviously," the she-weasel rolled her eyes at Hermione.

"Surely you should have booked the pitch then, rather than just getting a random note signed and rushing down here to ruin their practise," she replied. Ginny had pushed her way to the front of the Gryffindors now, almost face to face with Hermione.

"Who's side are you on Granger? You're a Gryffindor!"

Harry scoffed. "Maybe if you treated her better, she would actually support your team."

Hermione brushed him off, a blush appearing on her cheeks. "That's okay Harry, I can handle them," she answered, sending him a weak smile. Blaise put his hand on Harry's arm as their Captain took a step towards the Gryffindor team menacingly, they were laughing at Harry's retort.

"Calm down, mate. Let's just go, we can book another time," he eased, turning to Draco to back him up. Draco was still glaring at McLaggen. Despite being on the same team as Potter, it was moments like this that made Draco realise why he hated Gryffindors so much, they were so bloody cocky and hypocritical.

Coming to his senses, slowly Draco and Blaise managed to pull Harry away from McLaggen and lead him back into the Quidditch changing rooms, the Gryffindors still shouting behind them and laughing manically.

"I hate them."

Blaise tossed a towel to Harry who furiously wiped the sweat off his forehead. Draco wasn't sure if it was because of Quidditch or his anger towards the Gryffindors.

"You didn't have to defend me Harry, I'm used to it," Hermione scolded. She had followed them into the changing rooms and was sitting on a bench, her book resting on her lap and her ankles crossed.

"Yeah but you shouldn't Hermione!" Harry chastised, still infuriated by the enemy's cheek to interrupt their Quidditch practise. They would have been done in half an hour tops anyway.

"He's right." Hermione looked over at Draco, who had finally spoken out. For once, he agreed with Harry Potter. Despite Hermione being friends with them, she was a Gryffindor. Slytherins had a rule where you had to look out for your own, obviously the Gryffindors were different. "You belong in _their_ house, you're one of them yet they treat you awfully. Like when Weaslette tripped you on the stairs, that was bullying."

"And what am I meant to do Draco? Tell McGonagall? The Weasley's are the perfect Gryffindor family, what will she do about it when I'm just a know-it-all who hangs around with the enemy house."

"You are not a know-it-all, Hermione." Harry was stood opposite her. She looked up from her lap and Draco saw that there were tears forming in her eyes. For once, he felt sympathy for her. Every cruel thing he had said to her in the past coming back to him. Did she act like this every time he called her 'mudblood', or 'beaver teeth', or 'know-it-all'? Had she run to Potter and Weasley and cried her eyes out over all the derogatory terms he had used against her. He winced internally, regret flooding over him.

"Yeah," he supplied. "You're the brightest witch in our year! I'm sure they're just jealous."

He couldn't help but feel a little better inside when her doe eyes turned towards him, and a smile graced her features.

"Thanks Draco."

"He's right Hermione, you are the brightest witch in our year. Better than any of those Gryffindors. I mean come on, Weasley's thicker than a troll!" Blaise argued, pulling off his Quidditch shirt. Hermione innocently averted her gaze, turning back to Harry and Draco.

"I'll wait outside and let you change. Don't be too long." She left, her book tucked under her arm ready to be opened the second she left the dressing room.

"Okay, so now she's gone can we plan how we're going to sabotage the Gryffindor Quidditch Team?" Blaise asked, buttoning up his school shirt. Draco smirked and shot a glance at Harry, who nodded.

"Obviously."

 **...**

"I am not helping you break into the Gryffindor common room." Hermione glared as she continued to walk to Charms class. Harry and Blaise were close at her heels, with Draco not far behind. Last night the three boys had sat down and planned how they would sabotage the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, but for that they needed Hermione to get them into the common room. Unfortunately, she was not up for giving them access.

"But we let you into the Slytherin common room?" Harry argued, trying to catch up with her fast pace.

"I don't force you too though!" she retorted feistily, turning a sharp corner down another corridor. Flitwick smiled at her cheerfully, always happy to see his favourite student.

Charms breezed by, Harry and Blaise prayed and pleaded across the room to Hermione about the password but she continued to blank them. Draco watched as she jotted down note after note, every word that came out of Flitwick's mouth, she wrote down. He was the same, he'd never noticed it before but it seemed to him that he was just as swotty as he made Granger out to be. He completed the charm just seconds after her, glaring at Weasley and Thomas as they threw bits of rolled up parchment at the back of her head. Her hair was tied up today and looked less bushy than normal, it brought out the structure of her face more, which was quite attractive without the buckteeth and ferocious mane.

Luckily, he was brought out of his disturbing thoughts about Granger by Flitwick ending the class. The Slytherins had Herbology next, with the Hufflepuffs, so Draco wouldn't have to sit and watch his friend and Potter (who he still felt a tiny bit uncomfortable about calling a friend) torment Granger into giving them her common room password. However, as Hermione left her seat and headed towards the exit, on her way to History of Magic with her fellow Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, she dropped a piece of parchment on Draco's desk. Harry leant over and snatched it off the table.

"Yes," Potter half whispered, half cried in excitement as he unfolded the parchment.

"Phoenix ashes?" Blaise read over his shoulder, his voice laced with confusion. Draco knew what Granger had left on his desk straight away.

"The password!" Harry said, turning to Blaise, Draco and Theo (who had joined them and was following them to Herbology) enthusiastically. "Finally, we can give those Gryffindors something they deserve."

"Didn't Hermione just break a Hogwarts rule? Has she done that before?" Theo said in awe. Harry shrugged.

"She can just blame Neville, he always writes the password down on scrap parchment. We can just say we saw it lying around in the Charms classroom and picked it up, if we get caught," Blaise informed. Harry smiled.

"And we won't get caught."

Draco narrowed his eyes as Potter led them to the Herbology greenhouses. He was finally noticing the Slytherin inside of the boy who lived. Now they would just have to make sure Snape didn't find them, they would have detentions for the rest of their Hogwarts lives if he did.

 **...**

 **A/N: Sorry it was just a filler, I hope you enjoyed it all the same:)**

 **Next week, Draco and Theo have a little heart to heart :)**


	7. Nott's Wise Words of Wisdom

**A/N:** **Thank you again to all the support! Someone asked when dramione will happen, and I have to admit it is a slow burner, but it will come eventually! This chapter is delving more into Draco trying to find a way home, it's a little out of context in comparison to the last chapter but has a bigger impact on the overall story (which is getting more serious and closer to the ending of the Half Blood Prince, making its way into the Deathly Hallows). I hope you enjoy this chapter, Draco and Theo have a heart to hear;)**

 **NOTT'S WISE WORDS OF WISDOM**

 **...**

The sixth year Slytherin boys' dormitories was practically silent as Draco's fellow housemates slept soundly, except for the low din of Crabbe and Goyle's snoring. Draco, unlike the others, was sat up in bed, his covers over his head as he flicked through a book he had recently picked up from the library on time-turners and their properties. He'd been back and forth from the library ever since he had landed in this alternate universe, desperate to find a way out or at least an explanation as to why he was stuck here.

Carefully shutting the heavy book, finding nothing related to moving to different dimensions, Draco slid the book back under his bed, out of view from his other housemates, and settled back under his covers in defeat.

Until he spotted something glinting out of the corner of Potter's, _Harry's_ , half-open trunk.

Checking around to make sure nobody had heard him, and everyone's curtains were still drawn, Draco crawled to the edge of his bed and reached forward, trying to grab hold of the invisibility cloak. He had guessed what it was the second he saw it shining, looking completely _unlike_ anything else Potter wore - namely worn jeans and creased grey t-shirts - and his heart had skipped a beat. He'd been living in the Slytherin dorms alongside Potter for about a month now, everything had just rolled together and there was no way Draco could mention his predicament to a teacher.

Gripping onto the cloak, he eased it out of the trunk with little effort. Slipping on his slippers, to hide the sound of footsteps, Draco lifted himself off his bed and draped the cloak around him. It was weird to think he was now invisible, he just felt like he looked stupid hiding under a giant clock that he could see out of.

Sneaking past his sleeping friends, Draco managed to open the door without a sound and crept out of the dormitory, making his way down the steps towards the common room. It was silent, the green light from the Black Lake creating haunting images on the green wallpapers walls. He had never noticed how dark the common room was without the lamps on.

He had just about reached the entrance when he heard a noise behind him, then a voice called out.

"Draco?"

Looking around, he saw Theo running down the steps, wearing signature Slytherin green pyjamas, his brown hair messy, as if he had been running his hands through it anxiously. It took Draco a couple of seconds to register he was invisible until Theo spoke again.

"I know you're down here, I saw you put Harry's cloak on and leave the room." Theo had now walked over and sat down on one of the plush emerald sofas, he pulled his wand from his pocket and lit the fireplace, immediately spreading heat into the room. Theo rolled his eyes at his still 'absent' friend. "Would you take off the cloak already? So I can talk to you?"

Reluctantly, Draco pulled the cloak off his head and sat down next to Theo, draping the cloak over the back of the chair. He crossed his arms impatiently.

"Fine, you got me."

"We've all used the cloak before, you get used to it," Theo chuckled. "I'm pretty sure Harry just pretends it hasn't been taken, even though he knows it has."

There was an awkward silence for a second. Draco still wasn't used to Harry Potter being brought up in conversation so regularly about anything other than his fame and popularity. Clearly he was still popular in the world, he seemed to have lots of friends (aside from the Gryffindors, but that was a given considering he was in Slytherin. Although weird since they were his best friends in Draco's world) but didn't seem to be so het-up about his blasted scar. In fact, Draco was pretty certain nobody had mentioned it once since he had arrived here.

"So you heard me wake up? And you've just been spying on me?" Draco asked, gazing into the fire. The flames danced with each other, embracing their warmth.

"Not exactly," Theo started. He sighed. "It's hard to explain, I have this thing I have to do but I'm so worried I'm going to fail, and it'll put everyone I love in danger."

Draco froze. That was exactly how he felt about his mission for Voldemort. Like he had no escape, no chance for failure because if he did fail, Voldemort would kill his family, and then he would kill him. With all the havoc from landing in this alternate world, Draco had forgotten all about his mission for Voldemort. Maybe he didn't have it before. Maybe it had been passed on to somebody else.

Theo.

"Draco, you were going to the library weren't you?"

Draco frowned. "How do you know that?"

"I saw you stuff a book under your bed. And you've been going there quite a lot without taking your bag or any parchment, so I know you're not doing homework. Besides, you never usually do homework without Hermione or Harry around." Theo finished. He seemed to be debating in his head, then asked, "Can I come with you?"

"To the library?" Draco was confused but Theo looked serious.

"You can do whatever research you're doing, and I can just gather my thoughts."

Draco was still frowning. He was absolutely positive Theo was going through the same mission he had been forced to do in the other world. He had all the symptoms, spying on everyone, slacking on work, hanging back and not getting as involved as everyone else. Draco had dropped Quidditch because of his mission, wanting to spend as much time fixing the vanishing cabinet and not having any distractions.

"Can I ask you a question Theo?" Draco treaded carefully, he hadn't told any of his friends about Voldemort's plans for him, but of course, they hadn't understood him or gone through the same thing. Not like he had with Theo.

"Ask away?" his friend replied, looking up from his lap at Draco.

"Do you have a mission? From…" he paused, not sure what Draco from this world called The Dark Lord. Most likely not the Dark Lord, considering he was friends with the 'boy who lived' and his muggleborn friend. "From… you-know-who?"

Theo's eyes widened in shock. In seconds his wand was in Draco's face, ready to cast an unforgivable. Draco understood completely, he had been on constant guard whenever anyone brought up Voldemort, worried they would out his mission to everyone. But for his to actually ask Theo about the mission itself, that was an accident waiting to happen.

"Who told you?" he hissed, pressing the tip of his wand harshly into Draco's cheek. Draco held up his hands in surrender.

"Nobody, I swear. But I have something to tell you as well! If you come to library with me I'll explain everything." He kept his hands up, preferring not to threaten Theo by pointing his wand in his face. Slowly, Theo lowered his wand - still looking wary - and nodded, reluctantly.

"Okay, we'll go to the library and you will explain _everything_. Or I swear I will hex you."

"I don't doubt that for a second, believe me." Draco answered, picking up the cloak and throwing it over the pair of them as they left the common room in silence.

 **...**

The library was dark, both Draco and Theo had lit their wands with _'Lumos'_ but were still hidden under the cloak, afraid Filch might catch them and report them to Professor Snape. Draco had found another book on transportation through time, but nothing on transportation through worlds. He was still wondering if there was such a thing written down.

Theo was still hostile, his wand grasped tightly in his hand, ready to hex Draco at any second.

"Why are you reading about time turners and time travel?" he finally asked, peering over at what Draco was reading.

"Because I need to find a way home," Draco replied absentmindedly. Theo glanced at him as if he had grown two heads.

"A way home? As in Malfoy Manor?"

"No," Draco answered, still skimming the open page for anything or transportation to other worlds. "As in to my world, not this alternate universe where I'm friends with boy-wonder Potter and Hermione Granger."

Theo was now looking at him as if he was mad. "Draco, are you feeling okay?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "I'm fine Theo. And telling the absolute truth." He paused his reading, turning to Theo. Draco let out a sigh. "There's a reason I know, or guessed, about your mission from Voldemort." Theo winced at the name, something Draco found odd. "It's because I was set the same task in my other world. The world where I'm not friends with Potter and Granger, where they're friends with Weasley and I'm their enemy. The world where I have the dark mark and have a mission I have to complete for the Dark Lord otherwise he'll kill my family, first my mother right in front of my eyes." Draco pulled up his sleeve to show Theo a faint outline of the dark mark etched onto his skin, something the transportation to this alternate universe hadn't been able to completely erase. Theo's eyes widened as he too pulled up his sleeve, revealing a darker, more deadly looking dark mark that was burned onto his skin with pure dark magic. Draco could remember the pain as it was carved into his inner arm, cutting into all his veins and binding him to Lord Voldemort. His Aunt Bellatrix had praised him after receiving the mark, brandishing him a true member of the Black family. His mother had fawned over him for days, soaking his arm in cold water to dull the pain. Bellatrix had called her weak. Draco had refused to say anything, he had regretted that everyday after. Seeing his mother being called weak and doing nothing about it made him the same, weak.

"He threatened my parents. And Daphne." Theo announced, wringing his hands together as he opened up to Draco. "We're in an arranged marriage and my father told him. He threatened to kill her in front of me if I didn't finish the job he set me." Draco could see tears forming in Theo's eyes, exactly like he had felt after watching Katie Bell enter the Great Hall just a mere month ago.

"I know what you're going through. And I promise, I won't tell anybody, I know how on edge I was about telling people that the Dark Lord had given me my own personal mission." He paused, taking in Theo's gaunt expression as the other Slytherin boy just stared at him, a lone tear dribbled down his left cheek, Theo brushed it away, averting his gaze from Draco.

"How do you manage to hide it?"

"I didn't?" Draco supplied, letting out a sigh and shrugging slightly. "I became more distant, quit the Quidditch Team - they'd asked me to be Captain but I turned it down, my mother begged me not to but I didn't really have much choice - I ignored my friends more, focusing only on the Dark Lord's plan for me." He paused, taking in Theo's weak statue. "You're doing better than me. I couldn't even get through one attempt of murder before I broke down."

Theo looked at Draco in confusion. "Murder?"

"Yeah," he looked around, even though he knew the library was empty and there were no ear wigging portraits in sight. "Of Dumbledore."

Theo's eyes grew as they widened in shock. "The Dark Lord asked you to… murder… Dumbledore?"

"Is that not your mission?"

"No. I only have to fix a blasted Vanishing cabinet." Theo's face became startled. "Draco, you have to promise you won't go blabbing about this to Harry or Hermione, you know how they feel about the dark side. In fact, I know how you feel about the dark side. I know how to cast unforgivables."

Draco was still gobsmacked by the Dark Lord's request for Theo. His threat was forgotten as Draco continued to pry.

"So, you don't have to… murder anybody?"

"Not that I know of. My job is to bring the Death Eaters into…" he trailed off, finally decided to stop telling what he supposed was the 'enemy' his mission. "I mean it you know, about the unforgivables."

Draco eventually nodded. "I know. Don't worry, I won't go 'blabbing' to Potter and Granger. What am I meant to say? 'By the way, Theodore Nott is a Death Eater but he only told me because in my alternate life, which is where I've appeared from, I'm your enemy and I'm a Death Eater." He snorted, shaking his head in mirth. "Yeah right."

Silence followed. Draco returned to his book, scrolling through the paragraphs to find something on different universes. They had to exist if he had been able to get here. It was a total mystery. Theo had also picked up another book from the shelves, assisting Draco with his search for an escape.

"Maybe you should." Theo interrupted the silence, not looking up from the page he was reading on 'the dangers of forward time travel'. Draco rose an eyebrow in his direction.

"Maybe I should… what?"

"Tell them."

Draco frowned. "About you?"

Theo lifted his head. "No. About you. You know, being from another universe, if that's what you think has happened. Hermione's the brightest witch in our year, she might be able to help you?"

Draco looked at Theo with a torn expression on his face. Theo did have a point, with Granger and Potter on his side he could find a way home a lot quicker, who knows what Granger kept up in that head of hers. She quoted 'Hogwarts: A History' for Merlin's sake. And he didn't have to tell them everything about the other universe, not the part where he was a Death Eater enemy, he could just tell them he was in Slytherin at Hogwarts, and that they weren't as close in that world as they were here. He didn't have to go into every little detail.

"You think they would help me?"

"Draco, I don't know how close you were to them in the other world. If you had the Dark Mark, I'm guessing not that close?" - Draco nodded half-heartedly in response - "But I do know that the Hermione and Harry in this world would do anything for their best friend, whether he was from this world or not."

Draco flicked through a couple more pages, contemplating Theo's suggestion. It would be the most logical approach. And if they thought he was their friend in the other universe they would most likely help him out immediately, especially boy wonder Potter who, although had mellowed, still seemed to want to be Hogwarts' number one hero.

"The least you can do is ask?"

There was the sound of a cat meowing outside the library. Theo and Draco froze, extinguishing ' _Lumos_ ' and putting their books back, throwing Harry's invisibility cloak over them in the process. It seemed that Mrs Norris had simply continued on down the corridor, but the two Slytherin's were never too sure how far away Filch was from his beloved cat.

 **...**

As they trekked down towards the Slytherin dungeons, Draco turned to Theo with a sympathetic look on his face.

"I wish I could tell you not to continue with the Dark Lord's plan, but I know from personal experience that it isn't that easy." Theo nodded in response, looking down at his feet. "However, I can tell you that if you ever need help, make sure to let me know. I may not be loyal to the Dark Lord in this world, but I'm still loyal to my friend."

The common room door opened in front of them as Theo muttered the password under his breath. Once they were inside the green, murky waters common room, Theo shrugged the cloak off himself and his roommate, turning to face Draco.

"Thanks, and remember to tell Harry and Hermione. I promise it will help, talking about this to somebody has helped me."

"I will. First thing tomorrow. I promise."

 **...**

 **A/N: I liked writing this chapter, it was nice to write something with Draco and another Slytherin from his past. At first I was a bit concerned that Theo would definitely not tell Draco about his mission, but then I though 'no, they are friends and I reckon Theo is more open than Draco was sixth year, he trusts him and wants help' so decided to roll with it. The character of Theo will become a lot more evident in future chapters and I like writing him!**

 **Next week is another flashback, to Harry, Hermione and Draco's detention in the forbidden forest!**

 **Remember to review, favourite and tell me what you think!**

 **Thank you x**


	8. Interlude 2: Detention

**A/N: Sorry I'm a day late, I've actually gotten up and done stuff this week instead of just watching Netflix... surprisingly...**

 **Here is another throwback to first year in this universe, the trio have detention with Ronald!**

 **Enjoy it:)**

 **INTERLUDE 2**

 **FIRST YEAR: DETENTION**

 **...**

"It's from Hagrid," Harry said, opening the letter Hedwig had just dropped off for him at the Slytherin table. "He wants us to meet him in his hut later, to talk."

Draco grimaced into his cup as he took a sip of pumpkin juice. He was not a fan of Hagrid, not since he had told them the ferocious, and definite safety hazard, three-headed dog on the third floor belonged to him, and that the half-giant had called the beast 'Fluffy'.

Do we have to go and visit that oaf? Can't you just go?"

Harry frowned at his best friend disappointingly. "Hagrid isn't an 'oaf' Draco, he saved me from the Dursleys."

"Any fool could have done that, muggles are easy to apprehend," he stated with pride. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Would you say that to Hermione?"

"I said muggles, not muggleborns."

"Nice save."

Harry was scanning the letter again, and Draco decided (since he would most likely be dragged along to Harry's tea and rock cakes meeting with Hagrid) to peer over his friend's shoulder to read the note himself. He was shocked when he read what time Hagrid wanted to meet.

"Half past nine? We're not supposed to leave the castle after dinner. And we're supposed to be in our dorms at nine." Draco was looking at Harry with a look that said 'I don't want Snape to shout at me' but his friend ignored him.

"Have you forgotten my Christmas present? It's not called an invisibility cloak for any old reason." Harry replied obviously. His new invisibility cloak, although still a mystery as to where or who it came from, was his pride and joy. He and Draco had already spent hours sneaking out of their dorms to research Nicolas Flamel in the restricted section, so far however, they had no more information than last time.

"What about your cloak?"

Both Harry and Draco looked around to see Hermione stood behind them, her arms were laden with books and her wild hair was as bushy as ever.

"Been studying hard?" Draco asked, taking in his friend's appearance. Hermione sighed, glancing around quickly to make sure nobody saw her, before shuffling in between Harry and Draco.

"Not much, just working on Professor McGonagall's essay. I've been so stressed about it, 14 inches."

"Hermione, you do realise that essay isn't due for another week?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, thunking her books down on the table. "I know that Harry, but I'm also thinking ahead. We have Snape on Friday, and that means another 12 inch essay of the weekend. Anyway, stop changing the subject, what was that about your cloak?"

Draco returned to his breakfast, leaving Harry to explain to Hermione about Hagrid's letter.

"We should go," she finally said.

"What?" Draco asked, joining their conversation. "We can't go, if anyone sees us we'll…"

"We'll find out more about Nicolas Flamel," she stated, standing up. "But anyway, now I have History of Magic, and you have Defence Against the Dark Arts. I'll see you in Charms," and with that she hoisted her books into her arms and flounced away from the Slytherin table, out of the entrance hall door.

"She's mental," Draco muttered under his breath.

"But she gets us to class on time," Harry mentioned as he dragged Draco out of his seat, the pair following the rest of Slytherin and the population of Hogwarts out of the great hall to first period.

 **...**

"Remind me why we're doing this again?" Draco questioned as the three of them trekked across the school grounds towards Hagrid's little hut next to the Forbidden Forest. He and Harry had snuck all the way up to the Gryffindor tower under Harry's cloak in order to pick up Hermione, and then the three of them had gone all the way back down to leave the castle. Luckily the main door had still been open and the three of them had managed to escape without being spotted.

"Because we need to know more about Nicolas Flamel and the Philosopher's stone," Hermione replied matter-of-factly. "And Hagrid seems to be the only person dumb enough to let something slip."

"Hey, Hagrid isn't dumb," Harry protested, he stopped when Hermione gave him a pointed look.

"No offence Harry, but he told a bunch of first years about a secret stone and a three-headed dog hidden in the castle."

Harry spluttered. "In Hagrid's defence Hermione, we knew about Fluffy before he told us."

"Would you stop calling that… thing, Fluffy." Draco shuddered. "It sounds like something Longbottom would call his…"

"Please don't finish that sentence, Draco," Hermione chided. Draco's eyebrow rose.

"I was going to say bunny rabbit."

There were lights on inside Hagrid's hut, Draco was genuinely shocked the shed had not burnt down from the amount of candles and fires Hagrid lit inside of it. Harry knocked on the door gingerly, if opened to reveal an anxious looking Hagrid, holding a crossbow.

"Hagrid!" Hermione said, alarmed. Hagrid pushed the shotgun away, stashing it in the corner, letting the three of them in.

"Sorry about that," he said gruffly. "Never sure what's knocking on your door."

"You told us to meet us here at nine thirty," Harry said. "It's nine thirty."

"Yeah, well. You're here now aren't you. Come in, come in. Although I wasn't expecting you to bring company Harry." He eyed Draco carefully. The blonde rolled his eyes, Hagrid had never been a fan of his family, as Harry had told him Hagrid had slated the Malfoys pretty badly in Diagon Alley, and he struggled to understand why Harry would choose to be friends with such a 'purist'. He always looked wary and shifted around a lot when Harry was with Draco.

It was only then that Draco noticed Hagrid's pink, floral apron he was wearing. The blonde turned to Harry with a confused expression. Harry understood immediately.

"Hagrid, why are you wearing an apron?"

"What?" The half-giant avoided the question just as a loud squeal erupted from the fireplace, it sounded like a kettle going off after it had boiled. Hagrid rushed over to a pot on the fire, which was rocking on its hooks dangerously. He returned to the table seconds later, his oven mitt hands juggling with a sizzling large, goldenish orb.

"Hagrid, what is that?" Hermione asked curiously, her muggle nature taking over her. Draco cut her off.

"I know what that is! Where the hell did you get one of those? You do realise they're illegal!"

Hagrid glared at the Slytherin. "Of course I do Malfoy, so you better not go blabbing to your daddy or any other ministry officials he knows."

"Draco won't tell anyone," Harry assured, sending a scowl in his best friend's direction. Draco opened his mouth to speak, but thought better of it. Slowly, the egg shell began to crackle, revealing a very small, very slimy baby dragon.

"Wait, is that what I think it is?" Hermione finally clocked on. "Hagrid, Draco's right you know. Dragons are illegal!"

"Where did you get it?" Draco asked quizzically, genuinely interested in where Hogwarts' game-keeper had come into a possession of a dragon's egg.

"I won it off some guy in a pub, he wanted to get rid of it and I told him I had an interest in deadly creatures. Aw look, he knows his mummy."

The little dragon coughed and spluttered, releasing a torrent of fire from it's tiny mouth that set Hagrid's beard alight. He brushed it off, getting rid of the embers.

"This person was interested in dragons?" Harry questioned, he had never known anyone who carried around a dragon egg. Draco also narrowed his eyes, thinking the same thing.

"Well no, that's why he gave it to me, obviously. We just got talking." Hagrid turned back to the shrivelled dragon, petting it's head affectionately. "I think I'll call him, Norbert."

"Norbert?" Hermione responded with a disgusted look on her face. "Shouldn't it be called something more ferocious?"

"What, like Fluffy the three headed dog?" Draco mumbled under his breath. Luckily only Harry heard, but the latter snorted respectively.

There was a bang from outside the window, as if somebody had slipped. The four occupants of the hut looked out to see a gangly figure peering in, his long nose pressed up against the glass and his red hair difficult to miss.

"Who's that?" Hagrid asked, a hint of horror in his voice. Draco's eyes narrowed at the figure outside, who quickly disappeared once he realised he was suddenly the centre of attention, and Hermione huffed angrily as Harry replied to Hagrid.

"Weasley."

"Oh," Hagrid said faintly. "That's not good."

 **...**

"Mr Potter, Miss Granger, Mr Malfoy. Can you follow me back to my office please?"

The three friends winced at the sound of McGonagall's voice from behind them as they ran down the corridor. They froze, slowly turning around to face her. Her hair was scraped back into her usual, tight bun and her lips were pursed disappointingly. Hermione looked the most upset, ashamed that she had been caught after hours by her Head of House.

"Now."

"Yes Professor," the three replied, following the Transfiguration professor into her classroom. The second they entered they spotted Weasley stood by McGonagall's desk, a smug look on his face. Draco and Harry glared, Hermione crossed her arms.

"So, Mr Weasley informed me that you were out of bed after hours and roaming around outside by the Forbidden Forest, which you know is out of bounds."

Hermione was now looking at her feet anxiously. McGonagall was looking at her over her spectacles.

"I have no choice but to subtract fifty points from the three of you…" Harry started to protest but McGonagall's stern gaze stopped him, "…As well as give the four of you detention tomorrow night."

Harry, Draco and Hermione's mouths all fell open. Then Hermione frowned.

"The four of us? Professor, there's only three of us."

"No, I was correct Miss Granger. The four of you. You see, Mr Weasley, however good his intentions were, was also out of bed after hours. He therefore also has detention."

Weasley was now the one protesting, his face slowly turning flushed. "But Professor, I…"

"I believe my points are justified Mr Weasley. You will join Mr Filch tomorrow for detention. Good night students."

It was clear the conversation was over and the four students nodded before exiting McGonagall's office.

"Brilliant, I told you Harry." Draco huffed sarcastically.

"Don't blame me. Blame Weasley," Harry answered, sending a scowl in the redheads direction who was now disappearing up the staircase in a strop.

"It is nobody's fault," Hermione said, sounding slightly disheartened. "I'm just annoyed we didn't even get to find out anything else about Nicolas Flamel and Snape trying to steal the stone."

"How do we even know it is Snape?" Draco argued as the three of them walked up the staircase to drop Hermione off at Gryffindor tower.

"I'm not saying he is, it was Harry who started that."

"It was just fishy that he had an injured leg the day after Halloween, when the troll was let in as a diversion," Harry responded. He did trust his Head of House, he was just worried about who was trying to steal the stone and why.

Suddenly, Draco stopped. "Hang on, maybe we did find out something. Hagrid just happened to come across a man in a random pub who has something he wants, isn't that a bit odd?"

Harry's eyes narrowed. "You might be on to something there?"

"Can't we just go to bed?" Hermione pleaded. They had reached the Gryffindor portrait hole. "I want to find out about Hagrid's strange dealer just as much as you, but we're already in enough trouble. You don't want another detention do you?"

"I guess not. We'll see you tomorrow," Harry answered, sending a weak smile to Hermione, who vanished inside the Gryffindor common room, before throwing the invisibility cloak over Draco and himself.

"What do you think we'll have to do tomorrow? I heard Filch sometimes ties you to the ceiling by your thumbs."

"I'm pretty sure that's illegal and most likely not true," Draco replied as the pair made their way back towards the Slytherin common room, hoping Snape didn't catch them.

 **...**

Draco was dreading their detention by the time midnight rolled around. Professor McGonagall had sent the four of them, including Weasley, a note in Charms class announcing that they were to meet Filch in the school's entrance hall at quarter to midnight. Hermione had been horrified by the time, stating that she would not have time to wake up early the next morning to do a spot of 'reading' before her Potions class with Snape. Draco and Harry had also been annoyed, having planned a First Year tournament of Wizard's Chess between themselves and their dorm-mates. Weasley had grumbled all the way through Charms as well, moaning about his unnecessary detention to anyone who would listen, primarily Thomas, Finnegan and Lavender Brown, who spent most of her time dreamily watching Weasley with a glazed expression on her face - Draco thought she was mental.

Hermione and Weasley were already in the hall, stood as far away from each other as possible, when Draco and Harry finally ran up the steps that led from the dungeon to the entrance hall. Filch was stood next to the door, his usual foul look on his face, clutching a lantern.

"Good, you're all here." He drawled, his limp hair swinging as he turned to face the four first years. Weasley edged closer to the other three, fear suddenly overtaking him.

"Where are we going?" He asked, biting his lip nervously. Hermione also looked afraid, running her hands up and down her arms. Draco and Harry tried to remain passive, but inside they were shaking in fear.

Filch led them out of the school and across the grounds towards Hagrid's hut. His lights were on, as usual, but as the group drew closer, they saw that Hagrid was sat outside, fiddling with his crossbow.

Filch rolled his eyes. "You're not still snivelling about that blasted dragon are you?"

Hagrid looked up, directly at Harry, Draco and Hermione. His eyes were rimmed with red and bloodshot.

"They took Norbert away. They're going to send him to Romania to stay with other dragons like him." He sniffed, pulling a small pillowcase sized handkerchief from his pocket to blow his nose. Draco's lip curved in disgust at the sound.

"But that's good isn't it?" Hermione attempted to reassure. "He'll be with other dragons, dragons who understand him?"

"But he's only a baby, what if the other dragons are mean to him?"

"Oh pull yourself together man," - Filch took the words right out of Draco's mouth - "It's a dragon, not a kitten." He turned back to the four students. "You'll be serving your detention with Hagrid tonight. You'll be heading into the Forbidden Forest."

Weasley's eyes widened in shock and his face started to turn it's signature red. "The Forbidden Forest, but it's forbidden. There are…"

"Werewolves… and other things…" Draco supplied, regretting agreeing with Weasley. However, teachers letting four first year students into the Forbidden Forest, with only Hagrid the hysterical half-giant for protection, was barbaric. His father would definitely hear about this.

"And students aren't allowed in there," Hermione protested, backing up her friend. Harry nodded.

"Well, Hagrid's got a job for you. Have fun." Filch replied, his smirk literally dripping with mirth. He was enjoying their suffering. He trundled away, his lantern swinging. Hagrid stood up, taking his crossbow and holding it in front of him. Fang got up too, his sloppy face crossing over to Draco and drooling all over his school robes. Draco leapt away from the dog's saliva, crashing into Hermione who glared at him.

"Right, well," Hagrid finally started. "I've got a little job for you all tonight, follow me."

The four first years looked at each other before following Hagrid into the outskirts of the forest. A eerie howl filled the practically silent air and Hermione grabbed Draco's arm. Weasley snorted at her pathetic action.

Hagrid kept walking until they reached a clearing, Hermione gasped as the group of students spotted the creature Hagrid was walking towards. It was white, pure as snow, and a silvery liquid pooled around it.

"Hagrid, what is that?" Harry stuttered, stepping closer to get a better look. Draco followed his best friend, Hermione still latched to his arm.

"This Harry," Hagrid responded, scooping up the silvery liquid with his gigantic finger. "Is unicorn blood, I've seen it all over the place at the moment, and we're going to see if any others have been hurt."

"You mean, we're going in there? Alone?" Weasley cried, pointing at the dark trees ahead which twisted and coiled, intwining with each other and cutting out the light. Draco gulped when Hagrid nodded.

"Yep, but don't worry. I'll put you lot in two groups. Harry, you go with Weasley. Malfoy, Hermione, you're with me."

Harry looked appalled by Hagrid's decision before sighing and going over to stand next to a terrified Weasley.

"Fine, but we get Fang!" Weasley demanded. Hagrid shrugged.

"Okay, but you should know now. He's a coward."

If possible, Weasley's face shrivelled up even more and became even more frightened. Hermione and Draco said a woeful 'see you later' to Harry before following Hagrid off into the bushes. Harry and Weasley leading Fang in the opposite direction.

 **...**

"So what exactly are we looking for?" Hermione asked from beside Draco. The two were practically running in order to keep up with Hagrid's long strides. The game-keeper peered his head around.

"Anything really, a shimmer of what could look like unicorn blood? A whole unicorn? Anything to show how far out this killing has been happening, or identification of what might be doing the killing."

Hermione and Draco both started looking around, taking in all their surroundings, but also sticking close to Hagrid for protection.

"I hope Harry's okay with Weasley and Fang," Hermione said to Draco as the pair pushed leaves out of their way. Hagrid was up ahead, observing another patch of unicorn blood he had found. He had commanded Draco and Hermione to search the surrounding area for any other traces.

"He's probably fine, having a laugh about Weasley's face. Did you see it? He looked like he was going to shit himself!"

"Draco." Hermione chastised. She hated Draco and Harry using curse words. Her parents had always told her to never use them, yet Draco and Harry were both so blasé about them.

"Sorry, but he did."

Hermione snickered. "You're probably right. He did look scared," she sent Draco a sideways smirk, he caught her eye and couldn't help but laugh as he pictured Weasley's face again.

A loud scream pulled them out of their mirth. Hagrid leapt up, his crossbow ready as the scream grew nearer. Hermione and Draco both pulled out their wands in terror, Draco taking a tiny step in front of his friend defensively.

Seconds later, Weasley ran around the corner, his red face contorted and bawling. He grabbed Hagrid fearfully.

"There's something in there… drinking blood… it saw Potter…" he managed to get out through sobs and gulps. Hermione's hand flew to her mouth in horror.

"Hagrid, we have to find him," she said urgently. "He might be in trouble."

"Right, Malfoy, you take Weasley. Calm him down." Hagrid as good as threw Weasley at Draco, the redhead gripping at his cloak until Draco tossed him away. He clutched Weasley's robes by the scruff of the neck, dragging him along as they chased after Hermione and Hagrid. He had half a mind to stun Weasley and leave him stranded in the middle of the Forbidden Forest for what he had done to Harry, but thought better of it.

"You are so going to pay for this," he threatened in Weasley ear, still hauling him along. Weasley glowered at him but said nothing, still trying to catch his breath from all the screeching he had taken part in.

"Draco quick, we've found him," Draco heard Hermione shout from ahead of them. They picked up the pace, eventually reaching their original group, now accompanied by a magnificent centaur.

"Thank you, Firenze," Hagrid was saying to the centaur, Firenze, who nodded before wishing Harry well and disappearing back into the gloom of the forest.

"Are you okay?" Hermione urged, seizing Harry by the shoulders and giving him a motherly once over.

"I'm fine," he answered gravely, checking around to make sure Hagrid wasn't listening. "But I think I know who's been murdering the unicorns."

 **...**

 **A/N: Thank you for all the support so far! I haven't finished the next chapter yet but it is on my to-do list so fingers crossed it will be ready next week!**

 **Remember to tell me what you think, every response helps! And thank you to those who have stuck by me from the first chapter at the moment :)**

 **See you next week, will Draco tell Harry and Hermione his secret? x**


	9. The Truth

**A/N: Hey! Firstly, I know it's not a Thursday... and secondly, I know it's been about three weeks since my last update... and thirdly, I'm so so so so so sorry that it's been so long but I wrote the first half of this chapter with ease and then I got writers block, it was horrid! But now I'm back so hopefully you enjoy this next chapter of The Hand of Friendship!**

 **P.S: I haven't got a clue what potion they're making in this... so just roll with it, okay ;)**

 **THE TRUTH**

 **...**

"And make sure you add ten lacewing fly wings exactly. One more, or one less could turn your potion fatal."

Draco stirred his potion clockwise one and then anti-clockwise thrice - just as his copy of Advanced Potion Making advised - as Hermione carefully added the wings one at a time. Finding out his potions partner was Granger had been a dream come true, considering she was the only one higher than him in the class, and only by a handful of marks. Potter was partnered with Theo, who seemed to match well together. To his left, he could hear Blaise arguing with Pansy over the instructions.

He had decided that he would tell Potter and Granger the truth about where he was from tonight. He had tried to tell them that morning but Potter had woken up late and rushed around the dormitory, attempting to get ready in fifteen minutes. Potter's tardiness had meant he hadn't even bumped into Granger until this lesson, and Slughorn had started their class practical straight away.

"Okay, so now we have to stop stirring and let the potion simmer for…" Hermione skimmed her finger across the instructions "…ten minutes."

Draco nodded in reply, sitting down on his stool and relaxing. Panning around he could see that Granger and he were the first to finish this part of the potion. Pansy and Blaise had not even started cutting up their wings yet, and Harry and Theo were justing adding them. Slughorn came around, nodding in approval at their perfect, deep purple, potion.

"I knew I had made a good choice when I asked you to pair with me for potions Draco," Hermione said, tying her wild hair out of her face as she sat back, occasionally checking their simmering potion, she lowered the temperature of the stove slightly. "We just work well as a team, don't you think?"

"Yeah, we do." Draco answered, truthfully. He had always wanted to partner with someone who matched his intelligence and talent in potion making, and Granger had always been the obvious answer. However, due to her background and group of friends, he had avoided her. Theo had been the next choice, as he was third in the class, although he still was not that close behind Draco and Hermione. 'Listen, Hermione," He started. She looked up at him expectantly, tearing her eyes away from their bubbling - correctly bubbling - cauldron. "Do you think after potions, we could head to the lake? It's just, it's quiet there and I have something I need to tell you."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Me?"

"Well, and Harry," he finished. He didn't know whether it had just been a trick of his mind, but her face seemed to fall slightly at that. Then she composed herself and returned to her normal, passive expression.

"Oh yeah, sure. It's a nice day, we could get some work done there too. Have you written that essay for Professor Snape yet?"

"The one on Dementors and Lethifolds? Yeah, I finished that at the weekend. But Harry hasn't even started it yet."

Hermione's eyebrow rose, seemingly impressed by Draco's early finished essay. "We can help him then."

"Yeah."

There was an awkward silence as they both started to write down their evaluation on parchment. Then Hermione noticed the time.

"We should start crushing the beans, for when the potion has finished simmering," she informed, putting her quill down and counting out the beans ready to be crushed. Draco nodded silently, just dreading the end of the lesson.

…

"So what's this important thing you have to tell us?" Hermione asked from her spot under a willow tree. Harry looked up from where he was tugging grass from the ground.

"Important thing? What?"

Draco was sat nearby, looking out at the lake with his arms resting on bent knees, trying to calculate in his head, a way to tell them the news.

Hermione frowned, standing up and walking closer to Draco. She perched next to him, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Draco?"

He sighed deeply, wringing his hands together, nerves getting the better of him. How were you supposed to do this? Yes, he had already told Theo but that had been different, a spur of the moment. This was all on him, he was sure Harry and Hermione had no secret sinful mission (like Theo) that they would throw at him.

"Well…" he finally said, pausing afterwards to try and word it properly. "It's strange, and you probably won't believe me. In fact, if you don't believe me, that's fine and we can just…"

"Draco," Hermione interrupted with a tiny smile. "You're rambling."

Both Hermione and Harry were looking at him intently, waiting for the news that their 'best friend' had to tell them.

"Yeah, don't worry mate. We're your friends and we'll stick by you - unless you've killed someone of course," Harry finished, in what he supposed to be humorous. However, his grin fell when he saw Draco's solemn expression.

"Not quite."

He turned back to the lake, a couple of birds flew over, inches from the water's surface. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Hermione and Harry look anxiously at each other. Hermione took her hand off his shoulder.

"I'm not from… here," he said, not tearing his eyes away from the lake and the hills beyond. "Not from this world anyway."

Hermione scowled. "I don't understand?"

"It sounds ridiculous, I know, but you have to understand. I'm not the Draco from this world, I'm from another world."

"Another world? Draco, you're not making any sense." Harry spoke up, moving to sit slightly in front of Draco so he could look at his face. Hermione was looking at him worriedly.

"Draco, are you sick? Do you need to go to Madame Pomfrey?"

Draco pushed her away. "No, I'm not sick Hermione," he snapped. "I'm telling the truth okay. I'm not from this world, I'm from some kind of alternate universe where you're both Gryffindors and Harry is the saviour of the world, and I'm a Slytherin and, well, we hate each other!"

Hermione's face fell at the last part, Draco continued.

"After my 'quidditch fall', which in the alternate universe was actually a near death experience for me, I somehow woke up here, with you two as my friends, Harry being a Slytherin, and feeling more confused than ever. I've been down at the library most nights and frees, searching book after book on time travel to see if there are any answers as to how I get back home, but… there's no information, it seems to have never happened before."

Harry was still perplexed. Draco was ready to get up and leave, he had tried but they didn't believe him. Of course they didn't believe him, it was crazy.

Then Hermione spoke. "This… world, is it similar to here?"

Draco turned to face her in confusion. Did she believe him?

"Exactly the same, except for a few minor details. It's weird, it's like I have memories of this place, but at the same time, memories of the other universe," he replied eagerly.

Hermione nodded. Harry looked at her with a shocked expression.

"You don't seriously believe him Hermione?"

"Why not?" she defended. "He's our friend Harry, why shouldn't we believe him?"

Harry let out a blunt laugh. "Because it's crazy Hermione! Merlin, he's just allegedly said he's from a different universe, this is Hogwarts, not Doctor Who!"

Doctor… what?

Hermione seemed to understand but she shook his head, her eyebrows furrowed, as if she was trying to place something. "It's more than that. I've read a story about something like this before… I just wish I could remember where," she said, clearly frustrated with herself for not remembering the title of the book she had read the particular information from. Draco raised an eyebrow at her.

"Are you saying this has happened before?"

"If what you are saying is true!"

Harry laughed again. "Hermione, this is ridiculous!"

She shot him a glare. "Was it ridiculous when Voldemort resurrected himself Harry? Because that wasn't supposed to happen was it?"

That was the first time, aside from his chat with Theo, Draco had heard anyone mention Voldemort's name. He was not aware how much input or participation Harry and Hermione had with bringing down Voldemort, since neither had mentioned anything to do with the so called 'Order of the Phoenix', whom his father had told him ran the fight against the dark side.

Hermione's words seemed to make Harry think more rationally towards his friend. He turned to Draco apologetically.

"I guess it would be a big thing to make up."

Hermione smiled at her two friends. "I can help you find a way home Draco. If that's what you really want?"

"It is, and I'm sure it's what you want."

A foreign blush spread over Hermione cheeks that made Harry and Draco both raise eyebrows at their friend. She nodded. "I miss our _real_ friend, not that you haven't been a good friend," she quickly saved. "I just want Draco back."

"And I want to get back to my family, and make everything go back to normal. It's nice here, but I don't belong here, it's not my life," he responded. He knew that once Harry and Hermione found out who he really was they would want to try and bring the other Draco back. It wasn't that he was hurt, but there was a part of him that was a little disappointed.

"But until we can get you back, you're going to have to get used to it here. Because I think it's going to take a while," Hermione said, getting up and brushing herself down. "Come on."

Draco and Harry looked at each other, frowning. "Where are we going?"

"To the library of course," she replied exasperatedly. "You do want to get home, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Well then, let's go. I'm sure the book I read was in the restricted section somewhere."

…

The trio, after spending a good hour trying to find the book Hermione was talking about in the restricted section of the library, were on their way to dinner in the Great Hall. Unfortunately, Hermione couldn't remember where she had read the essential information so they had decided they would go back tomorrow after classes and keep looking.

"Hermione!" a voice called down the corridor from behind. They paused, turning to see Neville Longbottom chasing after them, panting erratically as he tried to catch up. He was holding a crumpled up piece of parchment in his sweaty palm, and his face was red. He eventually reached them and bent over, clutching an obvious stitch.

"Neville?" Hermione said quizzically, confused at her housemate's appearance. "What are you doing?"

"You walk fast," was Neville's only response, still trying to catch his breath. He held out the parchment in Harry's direction. "Professor McGonagall gave it to me, it's from Professor Dumbledore," he passed it over to Harry, who observed the paper with a frown. "Don't worry, I haven't read it!" Neville quickly replied, worried Harry was concerned about the privacy of the letter.

"Thanks Neville," Hermione said, smiling at her housemate. Neville was one of the only Gryffindors who attempted to talk to her. She used to help him with his potions homework before he failed his OWL, not that she thought he would improve, she just wanted to get Professor Snape off of his back.

Draco, Hermione and Neville all watched as Harry scanned through the note from Dumbledore. Before Draco could peer nosily over his shoulder, he screwed it up and shoved it into his pocket.

"I'll see you in the common room," he said to Draco, then said a speedy goodbye, vanishing in the direction of Dumbledore's office.

Draco watched as Harry disappeared down the corridor, that was curious, he'd never known Dumbledore to send a personal note to any student before, he always did it through other teachers - namely the Heads of Houses. Hermione, although confused, looked more in the know than him. He made sure to pursue her about it later at dinner.

Neville was still stood with them, awkwardly wandering back and forth on his feet. "So, are you two heading to the Great Hall?"

"Yeah," Hermione said. Draco stayed silent, looking at Neville with a raised eyebrow. The Gryffindor boy cowered away at Draco's gaze. Hermione continued. "Why?"

"Well, I was just wondering if I could go with you? You know, walk there with you… since I don't have anyone to…" he trailed off, taking in the pairs shocked expressions. "You know what, it was stupid to ask. I'll just go and…" his sentence stopped again as he started to go back down the corridor he had come from. Then Hermione stopped him.

"Of course you can walk with us Neville, I mean we're all going in the same direction, right?"

"Right," Neville replied, nervously walking back over to them, still looking wary of Draco. "Sure, of course. Thanks Hermione."

"No problem," she said, sending him the same sweet, sympathetic smile as the three of them started to make their way towards the hall.

…

"What did Longbottom mean, about having no-one to walk with?" Draco asked curiously as he and Hermione departed the Great Hall. He had rushed to catch up with her, deserting the other Slytherins.

Hermione shrugged. "He's kind of an outsider, like me. They talk to him and are friendly to his face, but Neville's not stupid - despite with Lavender Brown and Ron Weasley may think - he knows they only pretend to like him because his grandmothers in the order with their families," she said matter-of-factly. However, she clamped a hand over her mouth seconds afterwards. "I wasn't supposed to say that," she said, glancing around to make sure nobody was listening. "Sorry, I keep forgetting you're not _'Draco'_ Draco."

"The Order of the Phoenix?"

Hermione was surprised. "You know about them?"

Draco shrugged, not ready to tell Hermione about the real reason he knew about the so called 'light side'. "That's where Harry's gone isn't it, he's having a meeting about the order."

Hermione seemed impressed by how much Draco had put together. "To an extent, but it's a bit more than that." She grabbed his hand, pulling him in the direction of a familiar corridor.

"Are we going to the library, again?"

"It's quiet there, and I like the atmosphere."

Draco nodded, remembering his recent meeting with Theo. "I can understand that."

She dragged him over to a sheltered table in the corner of the room, shooing away a couple of third years who were observing the nearby shelves.

"Harry and Professor Dumbledore have some kind of plan. A plan to get rid of…" her eyes drifted to a couple of students entering the library. "Voldemort," she whispered the entire thing, and once again Draco was shocked by how confident she was in using the Dark Lord's name. It must have been her muggle heritage.

"What? And that's where Harry is now? Discussing this 'plan' with Dumbledore?" Draco asked, curiosity getting the better of him. He knew Harry had been up to something, in the other universe, all year, but he had never been completely sure what it was.

Hermione nodded. "But that's all I know. Harry told me, and the other you, about how Professor Dumbledore said he knew Voldemort's exact weaknesses, but he needed Harry in order to complete the mission he had already started."

Draco frowned. "What mission?"

"I don't know. I don't think he's even told Harry everything yet," she looked Draco straight in the eye, fiery chocolate brown meeting steel grey. "You cannot repeat anything I just said. Do you promise."

Draco, for a couple of seconds, just looked back at her. He really wished he had realised just how much of a talented and amazing witch Hermione Granger was in the other world, before he started being a complete arsehole to her. Maybe his life would have turned out more like this Draco's life.

"Draco." Hermione said again, more sincere and with a steely gaze. "Do. You. Promise?"

He nodded, averting his eyes and facing the table. "I promise. I won't tell a soul."

And he wouldn't. Because right now, Hermione Granger looked scary as hell.

...

 **A/N 2: So it's not as long as usual but I hope that truth telling moment was up to scratch... I was umming and ahhing about making it a big deal but then I was like 'no, Draco's just gonna come right out an tell 'em'... also a little bit of Neville because who doesn't love Neville Longbottom... also, still Dramione moment ;) Draco thinks Hermione is 'talented and amazing' how cute!**

 **See you soon!**

 **Hopefully not so long this time!**

 **Review, favourite, follow... tell me what you think:)**

 **Emma**

 **x**


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